


Hide and Seek

by lemonadesoda



Category: A Hat in Time (Video Game)
Genre: Dadtcher, Found Family, Gen, Mostly Fluff, Updates Fridays, learning how to express love when you've been emotionally constipated, mostly character development not much plot, with the occasional angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-09
Updated: 2020-09-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:13:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 18
Words: 95,873
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24088687
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemonadesoda/pseuds/lemonadesoda
Summary: When Hat Kid returns after only a year of absence, Snatcher is excited to have another chance at claiming her soul. So he tells himself anyway. He creates the Death Wish contracts to provide her a fitting demise, but as they spend more time together, he quickly realizes that his priorities might not be in the order he thought, and his world is soon thrown into disarray as he struggles to understand his own feelings. Meanwhile, Hat Kid has her own baggage to overcome. Trusting each other takes work, and there's a lot of past in the way, but the two of them (plus a Moonjumper) inch steadily closer into something that feels like family.
Relationships: Hat Kid & Moonjumper (A Hat in Time), Hat Kid & Snatcher (A Hat in Time)
Comments: 555
Kudos: 867





	1. Birth of a Death Wish

**Author's Note:**

> I've never played this game, but the fandom sucked me in anyway, and one day I blacked out and woke up with 20k (and counting!) words of this nonsense, so here we go I guess.
> 
> A fair amount of this was inspired by the art and headcanons of doodledrawsthings on tumblr, especially Moonjumper's characterization. I know there's a ton of Dadtcher content out there already, but I couldn't help myself honestly, I just love them so much. Anyway, hope you enjoy.
> 
> Intro quote is from Esther Perel.

> _And that “hide and seek” — that’s why that game is so important — is to know that even when I’m gone, I live inside of you. Even when I’m gone, when I come back you’ll be there. Even when I’m gone, I take you with me._

Ever since the kid left, Snatcher had acquired the habit of floating up to the very top of his hollow, where the shrouded canopy of Subcon Forest parted to give a clear view of the sky. It was nice to remember what stargazing felt like is all. No other reason. When the kid’s ship re-entered the planet’s airspace over a year after she first departed, Snatcher was one of the first to see it, and the entire forest thrummed with his anticipation.

After the first day of waiting, Snatcher reasoned that she probably had some business to attend to. Maybe her ship needed maintenance. The contraption did look so bizarre and complicated after all. The second day, anticipation turned into impatience, and on the third day, impatience to irritation.

“Where is she?” Snatcher paced back and forth across the floor of his hollow. A crowd of Subconites had gathered to listen to him rant. “All that fuss about forcing me to be her ‘BFF’ or whatever, and she doesn’t even come to Subcon when she finally comes back? Is she standing me up? Did she even land? Kids these days really have no manners. Unbelievable!”

“Maybe she’s too afraid,” one minion supplied, tapping their stubby hands together nervously.

“Yeah, Boss! Maybe she realized how terrifying you are,” another said.

Snatcher paused in his pacing for a moment with a small groan. It was a valiant effort, to be sure. He’d have to consider stealing some really encouraging mail for them. “No, she’s too much of a pest for that, unfortunately. But feel free to continue your flattery.” He craned up to look toward the sky, obscured as it now was by the shadowy trees. She couldn’t be in trouble, could she? Not that he cared if she lived or died, but he would prefer it to be by his hands, for all the trouble she’d caused him.

He remembered watching her fight with the little red girl. Hat Kid was tough. Snatcher wasn’t going to say it to anyone, but when _he_ had fought with her, it had actually been...kind of fun in a way. Usually his good-for-nothing contractor victim died in an unceremonious pillar of magical fire, soul ripe for the snatching. Hitting him with his own attack though? Cheeky brat. But clever. Snatcher could respect the resourcefulness. And that’s what it came down to, wasn’t it? He could just kill Hat Kid, eat her soul, blah blah, be done with it. But at this point, it was just too unfulfilling. It had to be climactic. Narrative payoff and all that. He stopped pacing again, and this time dropped himself into the armchair, gears churning in his head. Snatcher summoned a blank parchment. Boy would he show her a narrative. He began to write.

The intruder alert blared the moment he phased into the interior of the ship. He had never actually seen it from the inside before. It...definitely looked like a child lived in it. Toys, clothes and books lay strewn about the floor, and one particular chair seemed to be the victim of a mountain of the clutter. To say nothing of the real genuine mountain of pillows on one side of what appeared to be her bedroom. That seemed comfortable enough to impose his presence on. Snatcher fixed himself a little nook and summoned a book from his pocket dimension and sat down to wait.

The kid must have been planetside since he managed to get through a good number of pages before the doors slide open in a hiss and she came charging through, no doubt in search of the alert source.

She tilted her head at him. “Snatcher?”

“Where the heck have you been?” He glared down at the small child standing at the foot of the frankly ridiculous pillow mountain.

Hat Kid raised her eyebrow at him with a smirk. “What? No ‘AHAHAHAHA! FOOOOOOL!’?”

“Please, I’m not going to waste any more dramatic introductions on you. And I don’t sound like that. It should be much more impressive. _And_ you didn’t answer my question.”

Her expression became even more quizzical. “Home? You knew that. I told you when I left.”

“I meant the last three days you spent hanging out up here, while I heard not so much as a peep from you in my forest.”

Hat Kid shrugged. “I had some stuff to do around Mafia Town and Dead Bird Studio first.” The smirk returned as she peered at him sidelong. “Why? Were you _waiting_ for me?”

Snatcher crossed his arms, recoiling. “What? No! I was only shocked, since I normally can’t get a moment’s peace from you.” _Damn it, too defensive. Keep it cool._ Still, the realization that she had gone to visit other places first before coming to see him left a feeling he didn’t care for. No need to unpack all of that.

“Sounds like you were _waiting_ for me,” she said, sauntering up the ramp toward him.

“Pff. If I was waiting for anything, it was another chance to get that soul of yours.” He leaned forward, darkening the shadows in the room so that only his face illuminated hers. “You made a big mistake coming back here.”

Unperturbed, Hat Kid reached out and patted him on the face, making him sputter. “Definitely. Does that mean you have another contract for me?” she asked.

“Wh! Ugh, did you just pat me? You really have no respect.” He did, in fact, have a contract. He had many contracts. There were drafts. Since, you know, she went and took so pecking long to come to Subcon! With a flick of his wrist, Snatcher summoned his work of art, laying out the map in front of her. Hat Kid inched closer to examine it over his shoulder. “Here, since you’re so eager to lose your head.”

She pulled the corner of the map to angle it toward her as her eyes flicked over the terms. “Before I agree to anything, I have some simulations of my own,” Hat Kid said with mock formality, pitching her voice deeper.

“What? Wait, do you mean ‘stipulations?’”

“Yeah, those. I think I should get a pass on the hostage soul thing. BFF privileges.”

“BFF priv--No. Out of the question. That’s not even a thing.”

“Is too. Look it up.”

“Kid, do you know how many books I’ve read? Is not.”

“Is too, is too. I bet you don’t have the BFF book. It’s in there.”

“I am very certain that is also not a thing.”

She stuck her tongue out at him. “How do you know? Did you go to contract school?”

Snatcher raised an eyebrow at her. “I did, actually, little smart-alec.”

“Oh. Right.” she said, lifting a hand to her chin as though pondering something. “Forgot about that,” she said under her breath.

Snatcher’s grin dropped a bit. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

She jolted a bit, grimacing at the indication he’d heard her. “Nothing!”

He watched her for a moment, but she gave him the politest smile he’d ever seen on her face and held it there under his staring. “That’s not suspicious at all. Anyway, like I said, there are no special provisions for so-called BFFs.”

Hat Kid folded her arms and turned her nose up. “Well, too bad. Those are my conditions. I’m not giving you my soul this time.”

Snatcher dragged a hand down his face. “Ugh, you’re so--Whatever! Forget it. Why am I even arguing about this? Do you want the contract or not?” He narrowed his eyes. “I have to warn you, these aren’t your average, everyday contracts. I’m particularly proud of them, if I do say so myself. They’ll really put you through the wringer.” He cackled at that. “But, I’ll make it worth your while if you miraculously complete them. I’m not completely unfair. Obviously I had to create some incentive for you, since there’s plenty in it for me! I call them the Death Wish contracts.” He elbowed her with a broad grin. “Because you’d have to have a death wish to want to go through with them, get it?”

Hat Kid stared at him deadpan, and Snatcher gave her a pout. “Oh, you’re no fun,” he groused.

Her poker face broke down a bit and the edge of her lips quirked up, but she made a valiant attempt at hiding it. Snatcher pretended not to notice and watched in silence as Hat Kid initialed over the first contract. With a nod and a snap of his fingers, he stamped his seal onto the document next to her signature.

“Perfect! Excellent!” Snatcher rubbed his hands together. “Now, as I’ve said, these are advanced contracts, so things work a little differently here. Allow me to demonstrate.” He reached into his pocket dimension and pulled out a shadowy replica of the time pieces the kid used to power the ship.

She gasped, a bit of concern creeping into her face. “Where did you get that?”

He waved a placating hand. “Keep your socks on, kid. It’s not the real deal. I hate to admit it, but your time shenanigans are a bit beyond me. I thought the shape would get your attention, though.” Snatcher winked at her, earning a blown raspberry in response. “Anyway, my schtick is more along the lines of illusion and creation. And fire, but that’s not the point. What this little baby right here does is builds a pseudo-reality based on your memories, and I get to manipulate it into the perfect little nightmare-scape to torment you. When you activate it, who knows what material it will give me to work with. Isn’t that exciting?”

The kid did look impressed. “That’s pretty dramatic.” But a thought seemed to cross her mind, and she frowned at him. “Seems like a whole lot of work just to get my soul. You probably could just pop my head off right here.”

Several solid seconds of awkward silence followed. “Uh, do you...want me to do that?” Snatcher asked.

“No-o! I’m just _wondering_ because it’s _weird_ ,” she retorted.

“What’s the point of just taking your soul right here? Where’s the panache? The showmanship? The song and dance? Why do you think I make contracts? I’m immortal for goodness’ sake. How else do you expect me to have any fun with the rest of my unlife?”

“Aww, you think I’m fun!” Hat Kid said.

Snatcher made a face. “Where did I say that? The fun comes from messing with my victims, you know this.”

Hat Kid just smiled smugly back up at him, leaning on her umbrella. “Admit it. BFF privileges,” she whispered.

“Shut it. Those aren’t real, for the last time. And stop making that face, before I change my mind.”

“Sure thing, BFF.” She gave him an exaggerated salute.

“Oh! That’s it!” Snatcher swiped at her, albeit somewhat lazily, but the kid had already spun on her heels and fled out of his reach, diving into the pillow mound with peals of giggles.

“Too late, I signed the paper! We have a deal.” Her muffled voice drifted up through the cushions.

“Yeah, yeah, I’m having regrets already,” Snatcher said, sitting back in his impromptu nook and picking up his book again.

The pillows rippled as Hat Kid burrowed her way out from underneath and popped out at the bottom, still holding the shadow hourglass. She turned it around in her hands, giving it a once-over, then a twice over, peering into the gaps. Snatcher watched, bemused.

“You can consider this a test run, seeing as I’ve never actually seen how well it works. But there’s no hurry to try it out immediately. I have all the time in the wo--”

“Boop.” Hat Kid tapped the trigger mechanism and the magic in the hourglass burst out, enveloping the room in shadow.

“Well, alright then,” said Snatcher. The shadows had by now swallowed the entirety of the ship, replacing it with a limbo dimension. The fragments of Hat Kid’s memories whirled around him, and he reached out with his mind toward the most coherent and enticing. “Oh, how interesting. I can work with that.” All he needed to do was add some...personal flair. Snatcher clapped his hands together, and the illusory world materialized. Mafia Town. It looked quite familiar to him, especially considering he had never personally seen it _not_ covered in lava. So seeing a jet of it spewing from the top of the tower in the center of the town was not at all a surprise. “Let’s crank up the heat a bit more, shall we?”

Hat Kid appeared in the streets below. She looked around for him, but Snatcher hadn’t manifested physically. Since he was the one maintaining the dimension, it got a bit too meta for his tastes to make an appearance. Not to mention, too hot in this particular case.

“This should be easy for you. Just a stroll down memory lane. Hope you’re not retreading any old wounds,” he said, smirking to himself as the kid hurried about in the sweltering heat, desperately trying to stop the flow of lava before she collapsed from exhaustion. Snatcher pulled his attention away for a moment, sifting through the other memories for new content he could use. Assuming she even made it through this first challenge of course. Just because this pocket world was built from her mind didn’t mean it couldn’t do real harm. That’s where the fun was.

He caught snippets of her adventures on their planet from a year ago. But then, there also was the matter of that year in between. Curiosity spurred him to push farther into the memories, searching for the unfamiliar. Surprisingly, it took a while to find. Whenever he noticed something that seemed unusual, different from Earth, those memories fluttered away from him, crowded out by those of the kid’s more recognizable adventures.

“Are you hiding something from me?” he muttered. A quick check back to Hat Kid’s current challenge revealed that she was...actually making good progress. Drat. Ah, well, she never was one to be underestimated. He would have plenty more to throw at her soon enough. If only he could reach those pesky, elusive memories. The fact that they kept dancing just out of his mind’s reach only made them all the more enticing.

One appeared more vivid than the others, and in a lunge, Snatcher grabbed for it, snagging it just by the edge. “Haha!” he crowed, reeling it in to examine it.

A crystalline world revealed itself to him, pillars of glass and metal sprawling out in a technological forest as ships of various shapes zoomed across the sky and wove between the buildings. The kid’s home, must be? Hat Kid herself faded in, sprinting from her comparatively rickety ship across a broad hanger filled with other shinier vessels. The vision followed her as she wove through the shocked crowd of people, through corridors, and up lifts, until she reached the glass doors of a large room. She barged through them, and the memory flooded Snatcher’s mind with her elation at having finally arrived.

A group of adults jolted at her unruly arrival, surprise and disbelief dawning in their faces. “Can it be?” one of them murmured.

“I made it back!” Hat Kid announced, pride in her breathless voice.

Another adult smiled at her, but Snatcher frowned at the image. He knew an empty smile when he saw one. Why weren’t they happy to see her? Considering how excited the kid had been to get there…

“Indeed, you did,” said the false smiler. “How unexpected.”

“How did you do it?” the first speaker asked, their voice a bit dry.

“Well first, I had to find a ship, which I did, but it was all beat up and old, so I had to hurry up and fix it, and then I needed to power it,” Hat Kid rattled out. It mostly sounded like nonsense to Snatcher, without any context. He didn’t listen that hard. No, he paid more attention to how the audience reacted, and from their expressions, he could tell that wherever they came from, the kid had been intentionally abandoned there. She wasn’t meant to return.

Despite the fact that Snatcher himself had tried to expel her from Subcon, also never to return, indignation rose up inside him. At least _he_ had been up front about the fact that he’d wanted her gone. He had that down in writing! Of course, the kid had scribbled all over that, but that was her problem, not his. Clearly, the kid had the impression that she was meant to beat the odds and return home to a jubilant reunion.

Based on the emotions radiating from her memory, Hat Kid was coming to the same realization he was, and her excitement waned. “I guess I can...I can stay on my ship for a while. Until I find a place to live,” she said in a small voice. “But I can be useful! I learned lots of stuff on my way over. I can build things. I can harvest Time Pieces.”

The adults muttered amongst themselves before the false smiler spoke again. “Of course. I’m sure we will find something for you to do. However, we’re very busy at the moment. Busier still, now that you’ve...surprised us.”

Hat Kid backed toward the door. “Right. I guess I’ll get going.” The adults had already turned back to their discussion before she finished speaking, and she watched them for a moment before leaving, much slower than when she’d entered. The memory began to struggle from Snatcher’s grip, resisting his further scrutiny, and he loosened his hold, letting it slip away.

“Shit,” he breathed.

His own dimension alerted him that Hat Kid had reclaimed the shadow hourglass, completing the challenge he’d set for her. Snatcher snapped his finger, and the darkness of the limbo world warped away, returning the two of them to their original places on Hat Kid’s ship.

“I did it!” she shouted, hoisting the hourglass in triumph. She was covered in sweat.

Snatcher plastered his usual grin on his face. “How unfortunate. Not a scratch on you. Not to mention, you’re filthy.”

“Bleh, it’s your fault for making it so hot,” she said.

“Whatever. Just don’t touch me with your slimy hands. Don’t you have a washroom around here? I would consider using it, for once. At least I know that hourglass worked exactly as I planned it. I’ve got so much more to throw at you. You’re going to regret writing that BFF clause soon enough.”

“Hope you’re going to make it actually hard next time,” Hat Kid said, dancing around with the hourglass and not in any way looking like she intended to bathe.

“Be careful what you wish for, kiddo!” Snatcher shouted, cackling. “But seriously, please wash yourself. You’re disgusting to even behold.”

“Whatever, you’re not my dad!” Hat Kid said over her shoulder as she headed toward the door. He hoped that she was leaving to actually clean up.

“I thank the universe every day that I’m not!” Snatcher hollered back. 


	2. Old wounds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snatcher gets some more insight into Hat Kid's past. It triggers some reminiscing of his own. Hat Kid's bravado increases.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ...Wow. I'm absolutely blown away by the reception this has already gotten! Thank you so much for your kudos and comments! I saw them and was like "Haha uh oh sisters, I've created expectations!" and then I ended up revising this chapter for 3 days straight. I think it was helpful though, I'm much happier with it now, so I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Also it occurred to me that because I'm in basically one of the last time zones on Earth, a Friday update for most people is a Thursday night update for me. So ya welcome lol.
> 
> Edit: Fixed alignment issues and also want to give proper credit to Mak doodledrawsthings.tumblr.com for the headcanon that Snatcher reverts to shadow prince form when he's having an Emotion.

“You know, kid, I’ve been wondering,” Snatcher said while Hat Kid busied herself getting equipped for another one of his challenges, “what brought you back to Earth? You were so excited to go home the last time you were here.” He made sure not to seem too interested, keeping his nose in his book and watching her only out of the edge of his peripheral vision.

The kid paused for a second, a cloud crossing her face before smoothing out to something more casual as she shrugged. “I dunno. I just felt like it. I had fun here.”

“I’ll make sure that isn’t a repeat incident,” Snatcher said. So it wasn’t a coincidence that those particular memories worked so hard to evade him. She _was_ hiding it from him on purpose.

Hat Kid rolled her eyes, pocketing the Death Wish list he’d given her. “Yeah, yeah. I don’t think you’re trying that hard.”

Snatcher slammed his book down on his lap. “What? You want me to really make you miserable? Fine by me! I’m just getting started.”

As he spoke, Hat Kid mouthed an imitation of his words with an exaggeratedly doofy expression, miming a talking sock puppet with her hand.

“Wh-Did you just mock me?” He lobbed his book at her, and she tucked and rolled out of the way, screaming with laughter. Damn kid! She really wasn’t taking things seriously, even after there had been some admittedly close calls. But hey, this showdown was a marathon. Things might seem easy now, but eventually she would wear down, and he would have a front row seat for it.

Snatcher stuck an arm into the floor and his hand popped out where the book had landed and grabbed it. He peered down at her from his vantage point. Once Hat Kid felt safe from further book projectile attacks, she resumed her preparations. “Sheesh, are you cooking a whole balanced breakfast or something? How much longer are you gonna be?” Snatcher said.

“In a _minute,_ ” she said, rummaging through her closet. “I need my badges.”

“You mean you can’t find them in this desolation you call a bedroom? I could have a heart attack and die from the shock.”

“I have most of them, jerkface.” Hat Kid flung pieces of clothes out from the closet onto the floor. “Just not the one I’m looking for.”

“Are you sure they’re not on your hat already?”

“Uh, yeah, I’m not stupid.”

“Could have fooled me.”

This time Snatcher had to dodge out of the way of a thrown pillow.

As Snatcher watched her continue to putter about the room, he found himself once again suppressing an unease that had been growing since the very first day. Technically, he had enough material to craft dozens of challenges for her now, without any further prying into her mind. But that one memory hinted at a great deal more bubbling beneath her cheery exterior, especially considering how hard it was to even get ahold of in the first place. On the other hand, what concern of his was it? Sure, it had the delicious potential for drama and trauma, but did he really care that much to go chasing after it?

“Ugh, not my problem!” he told himself, not for the first time. Snatcher attempted to go back to reading while the kid increased her radius of mess in the badge hunt, but only found himself rereading the same sentence over and over. Snatcher smacked himself in the head, groaning. If his idiot brain wasn’t going to let go of it, he might as well indulge himself during this upcoming contract. Assuming she ever got around to starting it before the heat death of the universe undid his existence. 

“Found it!” Hat Kid popped out from under her bed. “I left a soda on it.”

“Finally. I thought I was going to die for a second time.”

“So dramatic. Last time you said you have all the time in the world.”

“Yeah I did, and the world was starting to run out of it.”

“Whatever, I’m starting, I’m starting. Happy?” She procured the shadow hourglass and activated it, pulling them both into the limbo space. Snatcher no longer needed a moment to get his bearings. The challenge dimension materialized for her almost immediately--he was already prepared. Still Mafia Town. There was a lot of good material there.

“I’ll be happy when you fail spectacularly and embarrassingly. You’re off to a great start already,” Snatcher said, but he was already distracted, rifling through her memories again. Was it uncool of him to pry like this? Probably. Too bad. He wanted to know.

He hunted more aggressively this time, knowing how the memories would flee. Something a little less recent, perhaps? Snatcher caught the beckoning glimmer of one and honed in on it. The sliver of memory stuttered under his intense focus and the momentary hesitation allowed him to snag it.

Once again, Snatcher’s vision shifted as he processed the memory. Hat Kid was watching a screen that warned her of the current planet’s instability. It would start collapsing into a time rift if she stayed longer than a few rotations. She tapped a button on the screen, and it initiated a call. The screen blipped for a while before flashing with the alert that her call had gone unanswered. Hat Kid waited another several minutes. She called again. No answer.

“No, right, it’s too dangerous for them to come back for me,” she said to herself. “I gotta do this myself.”

She raced through the winding halls, just as shiny as the city in the first memory Snatcher had caught. Hat Kid eventually wound up in a massive hangar that had been largely emptied. In the far corner, there was a pile of scraps and a few derelict looking vessels, including the ship Snatcher recognized as hers. Hat Kid took a deep breath and hurried over, grabbing tools from the abandoned work stations along the way.

Snatcher watched her climb into the various ships and test their capabilities, starting up the power systems, assessing their space-readiness. Eventually, through some arcane decision process, she settled on her current ship and, armed with her tools, set about jury-rigging the thing to be able to run.

The vision shifted, and this time Snatcher watched her running through the empty building, recycling time pieces that she yanked out of any high powered device available and tinkering her beat-up old ship to full operation. Snatcher had to admit, her engineering prowess impressed him. It was all a bunch of technonsense that he didn’t really care about, but he had to begrudgingly admit that he wouldn’t have made it out if it had been him in her position. And she was doing it all alone, as a kid, with a planetary destruction countdown hanging over her head. Maybe his own challenges really weren’t stressful enough, all things considered.

Hat Kid whooped as she powered on the ship and the entire system blinked online and the engine roared to life, vibrating the very air. She leaped into the controls, slammed her hands on the buttons and pulled on the steering yoke to guide the ship up and out of the hangar. Further button punching resulted in the system pinging an alert for a spacetime jump, and with her signature “boop,” Hat Kid triggered the jump, the surroundings in the window elongating into a blurred mass of lines from the acceleration. The vision shifted again.

The ship was humming along through spacetime, and Hat Kid was pacing around the ship, obviously bored. She checked the progress screen every several minutes. It would be almost a year before she reached her destination. Five minutes later, and it was still as many months. Hat Kid slumped down the hall into her bedroom. Apparently, having the run of the abandoned facility meant that she had spared herself no expense when it came to packing “the necessities” which apparently included the pillow mountain. The slide wasn’t there yet though. She must have engineered it in a fit of boredom during the long, lonely months.

Hat Kid flopped onto the slope of the pillows and curled up into a ball with a sigh. A wave of loneliness radiated through the memory, as well as a faint desperation. She imagined herself being celebrated when she arrived on the homeworld. “That’s incredible!” they would say. “You’ve really proven yourself!” Surely, this would get their attention. She had to hold onto that hope if she was going to get through the journey--hope that it would be worth it to make it there.

Snatcher felt her thoughts, and his unease surfaced again with nauseating insistence. The memory began to slip away from him as he hesitated. This felt off. It wasn’t...this wasn’t right. He shouldn’t be here. He released his hold on the memory and fell back into the limbo space.

All that effort and isolation she went through, and all for the sake of people who seemed like they just didn’t want her around. They had abandoned her there! It made more sense why she never stopped coming around to bother him, even after he told her to get out of his forest, even after he’d tried to kill her. Hell, he was trying to kill her right now. When you’ve had to choose between dying alone on a collapsing planet or fighting for a scrap of attention from people who did not give a shit, it was easy to see why she had a warped sense of good company. And a warped sense of danger for that matter. Not that he felt _guilty_ toward her now, but he at least understood where she was coming from a bit better.

Snatcher turned his attention to her progress in the contract. The Hat Kid of the present was racing around the town trying to hunt down the special items he had hidden around it before the earth literally collapsed from under her.

Soon after, the dimension pinged to indicate she had completed the challenge. Despite his insistence otherwise, Snatcher felt a twinge of satisfaction at her success. They still had more ground to cover, and really, the fun was only just getting started. Besides, he’d watched her literally rescue herself from certain death against all odds. The last thing Snatcher wanted was an anticlimax.

The shadow limbo evaporated, planting them back in her bedroom with Hat Kid still hoisting up the shadow time piece. She was currently doing victory poses with it.

“That all you got, ghost?” she asked, holding up the peace sign at him.

“Not too shabby, kiddo, if you were trying to run it like my grandma, and she’s deader than me! That island was just about ready to sink you into the ocean. You sure like to do things at the last second.” Snatcher tsked.

“Are you sure you didn’t cheat and make it sink faster than you said?”

Snatcher feigned a pearl-clutch. “You mean you don’t trust me? Cross my heart, I would never.”

“You said you don’t even have a heart!” Hat Kid stuck out her tongue. “I bet you were cheating.”

“Hah, you’ve got no evidence. That would get you thrown out of court. Trust me, I’m a lawyer!”

“Blah blah, law’s boring. I’m going to make a snack.” Hat Kid put away the shadow time piece and skipped toward the door. “Reflect on your crimes, cheater!” she called over her shoulder.

“Boring? Your hat is boring,” Snatcher muttered as she left.

After all the prying he had done into her past, Snatcher still didn’t have a clear answer as to why Hat Kid had come back to Earth. Perhaps she got fed up with the fools back home and cut her losses. Smart. And now Snatcher got a benefit out of the arrangement, with a new opportunity to get his revenge. He wouldn’t look any further into her memories, though. At first, he’d done it to potentially garner more ammunition to use against her, but what he found just seemed too classless. As much of a brat as she was, Snatcher could sympathize about holding onto false hope about people. 

Several minutes had gone by, and the kid was still milling about in another part of the ship. The way she’d said “snack” implied Hat Kid intended to return shortly, but it was getting to the point where he was unsure whether she’d accidentally flushed herself down a toilet and out into space. He assumed that was how space toilets worked. Snatcher floated toward the flight deck, phasing straight through the doors, to investigate the holdup.

“Hey, kiddo, did the snack come to life and eat y--oh good grief, what is happening?”

A plume of smoke billowed out from one of the portholes. He followed it into a kitchenette area, waving the smoke out of his face, grateful for not having lungs. A loud hiss filled the room and as the smoke subsided, he saw Hat Kid extinguishing the flames in a metal box. She reached in and pulled out a charred bag. “Aww, peck,” she muttered, holding it with the tips of her fingers.

“What the frozen heck is that?” Snatcher said.

“It was supposed to be popcorn.” Hat Kid tossed the bag into a trash chute and waving a tearful farewell to her snack. She sighed melodramatically, slumping hard against the wall. “That was my last bag.”

Snatcher rolled his eyes. “My deepest condolences for your terrible loss. Anyway, it sounds like you’re done for the day so I’m out. Smell ya later!” He was about to phase back to Subcon when Hat Kid called after him.

“Wait! I’m coming down too.” She hurried past him down the hall toward the flight deck where her teleporter was.

Snatcher floated after her. “No! That was not an invitation.”

“I just remembered Stumpy said they have a stash of goodies, so I’m going to steal some!”

“Stumpy? Who the f-”

“Boop!” Hat Kid jumped onto the teleporter and warped out, presumably to Subcon.

“Oh, for the love of,” Snatcher growled, following after her.

She wasn’t at the hollow when he arrived, so Snatcher sent out some feelers in the shadows to determine where she landed. He teleported over to Subcon Village where he found her and one of his Subconites shuffling through a hollowed out stump of a tree.

Snatcher loomed behind them. “Literally what are you two doing?”

The minion nearly jumped out of their fabricated body as he spoke, but Hat Kid only emerged with a bag of snacks, her cheeks already stuffed with some of them. “I told you, I’m getting snacks. Stumpy has the goods. It’s not popcorn but,” she paused and looked at the bag. “Actually I dunno what it is, but I’ll take what I can get.”

“Stumpy,” Snatcher deadpanned, turning toward the Subconite next to the kid.

“Yeah, that’s what I call them anyway, since they’re always hanging out by this stump,” Hat Kid said through a mouthful.

Snatcher blinked for a second, then doubled over wheezing. “Kid! I gotta say, you’re terrible at naming things.”

She stuck out her lip. “Better than you. You don’t even call them by their names. Just ‘Hey you’ or ‘Minion!’”

“Hah! That’s true. Ya got me there. Speaking of which,” he turned to “Stumpy.” “You, don’t you have work to do?”

The Subconite saluted. “Y-yes, Boss! Right away, Boss!” They scampered off to do whatever it was--he had no idea himself. Snatcher didn’t actually keep a close tab on the little hooligans, but they needed a sense of purpose.

“Aw, who am I gonna play with?” Hat Kid pouted up at him, folding her arms.

“Not my problem, kiddo. I’m out of here. I better not hear a peep out of you unless it’s about those contracts.” Without another word, Snatcher returned to his house.

The next several hours passed with blissful quiet, and Snatcher got through most of his current book. The kid was still in the village though. Surely it was getting close to the time when she was supposed to be asleep. Easy to forget, perhaps, when you were hanging out in a forest filled with the sleepless dead. Snatcher rose from the armchair. He ought to check to make sure she wasn’t wreaking havoc on his village.

As he arrived, Snatcher took a moment to observe before he materialized. The kid had managed to wrangle the one she called Stumpy again, as well as a gaggle of other Subconites and even some of the normally sullen Dwellers into some disorganized game of tag. Continued observation revealed that this game had no discernible rules. They were just chasing each other, cherry-bombing ice fragments, playing hide-and-seek all in one.

A cluster of minions ganged up on Hat Kid, tackling her and dogpiling on top of her as she screamed with laughter and wrestled with them. The Dwellers circled above them, twisting like ribbons in the air, more alive than Snatcher ever recalled seeing them. They rested a while, letting the kid catch her breath and soon the chase began again.

Snatcher waited. The game would end instantly the moment he appeared. If he squinted enough to ignore the dilapidation of the houses, the village looked as though it were a simple evening with children playing in the streets, everyone alive, everything unfrozen. In the face of such a scene, it was easy to imagine himself back in a softer world, when life was warm and the future hopeful. An ache he hadn’t felt in ages throbbed dully within his chest. _Careful_ , he warned himself.

Snatcher focused on the kid, the one bright ball of life in a crowd of ghosts. He understood wanting to bury the unwanted past. If she came back here to leave it all behind, then so be it. Without revealing himself, he vanished back to his hollow. The children weren’t causing any real damage. Why not let them exhaust themselves for a while longer? He wasn’t totally heartless, and she was keeping the minions from getting themselves stuck up trees like dumb little wandering kittens.

Hat Kid was mistaken after all. He knew their names, all of his minions, even when they themselves had long forgotten. He had their contracts after all. Stumpy’s name was Elwin. Snatcher would never call them that out loud. To do so was a dangerous indulgence in something long dead. Even lurking there in the shadows to watch the idyllic scene encroached on the rules he had set for himself, risked unlocking things that should stay six feet under. The Prince once called the children by name as he walked through the village, and Snatcher was not the Prince. Not anymore. None of them were who they used to be anymore, and why pointlessly pretend that anything could be the way it used to be? Old wounds indeed. He picked up his book again, settling down in the silence.

Another couple of hours ticked by, leaving Snatcher to finish the first book and pick out another. Footsteps approached from the main path leading to his tree, up the spiky vines that surrounded it and right to the foot of his armchair.

“Whatcha reading?” the kid asked, clambering up onto the arm of the chair and peering at his book.

“Not even a knock? How rude.” Snatcher sighed. “Kid, I can’t focus if you keep leaning over my shoulder like that.”

Hat Kid ducked under his arm. “How about under your shoulder?”

“Now your enormous hat is entirely blocking my view, so no. Not an improvement.” Snatcher sat rigidly, not wanting to make any accidental physical contact.

She jumped down into the seat of the chair, practically sitting in his lap. She placed her hands on the bottom of the book to tilt it so she could see it better. “How about now?”

Technically, yes, he could see again. But there was an obnoxious child in his lap now, so the issue of focus remained. Snatcher told her as much. Hat Kid ignored him, stretched and yawned, and made herself even more at home.

“Maybe you should go back to your ship, instead of imposing on my personal space,” Snatcher said.

“I’m not sleepy. I’m reading. There’s a lot of words here.”

“Yes, books tend to have those.” It was a history and a dense one at that. Not exactly appropriate reading for kids. She did seem to be very focused though, which meant she wasn’t being as annoying as usual. He supposed it wouldn’t hurt to let her appreciate literature. He finished the page and turned it.

“Wait! Too fast.” She pulled the page back to the previous one.

“Kid, I’m not waiting for you to catch up every time.”

“Maybe can you read it out loud then? Then we’ll be at the same spot.”

Snatcher put the book down. “What do I look like? A librarian? This isn’t story time. If you’re going to make a fuss, I’ll take you back to your ship myself.”

“No-o! Fine, I’ll be quiet, promise,” she said with a huff.

“You’d better.” Snatcher picked the book back up and turned back to the page he was currently on. True to her word, Hat Kid did not interrupt again, much to his surprise. He could see her head movements out of the corner of his eye as she struggled to speed read to match his much faster pace. There was no way a kid who mixed up “simulation” with “stipulation” was absorbing anything like that. It was almost frustrating to watch, which again, did not help _him_ concentrate either.

Sighing to himself again, Snatcher paused, waiting for her to go still again. She noticed the lengthy break and craned her head up to peek at him. He turned the page, and then began to read aloud. “In the year 342, a dramatic shift occurred in the cultural and political landscape, with agricultural settlements increasing in number, size, and productivity due to the development of the early windmill…”

Hat Kid’s eyes widened and a broad smile bloomed on her face, and she snuggled up closer to him as she listened. The gesture almost made his voice hitch, but Snatcher continued reading. 

As he read, her weight in his lap became heavier, her hat bobbing up and down as she started to nod off, though she valiantly perked up each time. It was kind of adorable, and as soon as that thought crossed his mind, Snatcher scrunched his face up sticking his tongue out. Hat Kid turned her droopy eyes up to him, questioning the random interruption, but Snatcher managed to compose himself in time for her not to notice his disgruntled expression. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to outright toss her out even as their closeness unsettled him, churning up something within that he refused to scrutinize.

Snatcher became aware of an odd sensation in his arms. He shuffled his grip on the book and brought one hand up in front of him, and what he saw nearly made him drop the book onto the kid’s head. A five-fingered hand--shadowy, but still, indisputably human. Snatcher stole a glance down at Hat Kid. Her head hadn’t risen in a while, and her steady, deep breathing told him she was finally fast asleep. Her hat toppled off onto the other side of the seat. Thank god she couldn’t see him. Snatcher stole a glance at the rest of his form. Sure enough, he was back in a shadowy version of his princely attire, the same he’d died in. He was glad he couldn’t see his reflection anywhere. It had been literal ages since he had last reverted to _this_.

He had been far, far too indulgent just now, both with her and his own feelings. Bad enough that she continued to act unimpressed with the challenges he posed for her thus far, and now she was flaunting her bravado by climbing into his own chair and making him read for her. It must have been the nostalgia of seeing her playing with the minions coupled with the fact that he was feeling a bit sorry for her that made him so soft this evening. And look where that had gotten him. Snatcher would have to plot a truly fitting revenge for the slight.

He marked his spot in the book and laid it down on the side table. Focusing his mind, he pushed down that insolent nostalgia that had brought out the old Prince again after years of burying it. Snatcher felt his form respond to his shifting emotions, smoothing out and elongating back to his proper shape. He stretched his arms out, sighing with relief, and then grimaced down at the snoozing kid.

“Now I actually have to kick you out. Hey, sleeping beauty! Up and at em! Go back to your ship!”

Hat Kid stirred, turning over in his lap and squinting up at him. She felt her head and then flailed her arms above her to feel for her hat. Snatcher poked it toward her grasp with a finger. Hat Kid smacked her lips but didn’t make a move. “Wha time’zit?” she mumbled, rubbing her eyes.

“Time for you to leave-o-clock,” Snatcher said. “Actually, that was 3 hours ago.”

“In a minute,” she said, turning back over and definitely not getting off him.

“Kid! Seriously? Let’s go!” He prodded her, but she was either ignoring him or just too groggy to care. “Oh, for crying out loud.” Snatcher scooped her up and teleported them both back up into her ship.

They appeared in her bedroom, and Snatcher tossed her onto the bed, which she only registered with a small “Oof” but otherwise didn’t react. He turned to leave but noticed her reaching blindly for something. When her fingers latched onto her cape, she pulled it over herself and huddled underneath it. Snatcher paused, debating. She probably wouldn’t remember much in the morning. He floated back over and tugged the bunched up blanket from under her and draped it over her, straightening out the edges. He hovered over her for a few seconds until her expression smoothed out into a peaceful one, and finally, Snatcher felt satisfied enough to leave.

When he returned to his chair, Snatcher sat staring at the wall, propping his head up with his hand. “What the hell was that?”

All in all, it had been a very weird day and not the kind of weird that he was in control of, which meant it wasn’t the kind of weird that he liked. He really let things get out of hand, and he really needed to course-correct before she started to get the wrong idea. Honestly, he saw one sob story out of her and suddenly he went all mushy? Snatcher shook his head at himself. No, he wasn’t going to let it happen again.


	3. Mixed messages

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Trust is earned, trust is broken.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think the person who's most excited for chapter launch day is me. I'm so happy to be writing this story. It's an unbelievable amount of fun, and you all have been so supportive and amazing!
> 
> Moonjumper is here! I based their characterization, relationship with Snatcher, and identity as Badge Seller once again from doodledrawsthings.tumblr.com. After this, though, the characters pretty much have their own life, so the similarities start to end after this. Also my Moonjumper uses they/them pronouns.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

Hat Kid idled among the winding paths of Subcon forest. The last few challenges, Snatcher had indeed made good on his promise to up the difficulty, so the peaceful ambiance of the outer woods allowed her to settle her nerves. She might have to revisit Dead Bird Studio just to remind herself that the reality of the place was not as stressful as it had been during the Death Wishes, but at the moment, she needed things to be quiet and slow. Not to mention, Snatcher had been in a Mood(TM) for the last several days. Hat Kid knew grown ups and their Moods all too well. It always meant that you were getting underfoot and you just had to lie low for a while until they got over it.

She kicked a rock down the path, hands shoved into her pockets. At the very least, when Snatcher got into a Mood, he was just a big grouchy jerk. He didn’t mean it. Probably. Not like the grown ups back home. They went all cold and impatient. Hat Kid hunched in on herself thinking about it and kicked the rock extra hard. A stab of pain bloomed in her toes at the impact.

“Peck,” she muttered, crouching down to massage her foot.

Snatcher’s Mood had started the day after she accidentally fell asleep while he was reading to her. Up until then, Hat Kid thought they were having a pretty good time. He was the one who came up to  _ her _ ship to bug her about contracts in the first place because he was too impatient to just wait until she came to visit Subcon. Hat Kid continued walking the path. Maybe he was irritated that she fell asleep on him. He did like reading a lot, and she had begged him to read for her, and he always commented on her manners, so maybe he was mad at her because it was very rude to fall asleep while he was doing her a favor. The grown ups from home were always criticizing her manners too, so that was probably it. She had been kind of fussy and obnoxious about it, but he apparently had tucked her in bed after, so Hat Kid thought they were cool, but based on how he’d started acting shortly after, maybe not.

“Maybe I should apologize.” She made to turn back toward Snatcher’s hollow when a tingle on the back of her neck told her that something might be watching her. Hat Kid whipped around again and saw a shadow dart behind a tree. “Hey! Who’s out there?” she called, jogging after. “Snatcher? Are you following me?”

No answer. Hat Kid stuck her lip out. Was he trying to be a jerk again? She continued running, speeding up as the shadow flitted out again ahead of her. “Come on, quit it!”

She fired her gripshot hook into the branches, launching herself far into the undergrowth where she saw the shadow last. She tumble-rolled out of her landing and dashed through the bushes. Where was it? ...There! She swung herself forward again, but overshot the landing this time, and as she stumbled to correct her trajectory, the ground sloped downward into a ditch obscured by the thick vegetation.

“Wuh oh!” She kicked herself into the air to try and salvage what was already guaranteed to be a bumpy landing when a red thread shot out of the darkness, coiling around her waist and hoisting her back onto flat ground. Hat Kid shook herself off, taking a moment to catch her breath.

“Easy there,” a strangely familiar voice said. She looked up, half expecting to see Snatcher, but instead, there was a strange figure floating in front of her. They wore a crimson cloak and tunic, and their grayish head was an odd crescent shape, kind of like the moon. Most strikingly, they had no legs.

Hat Kid put a hand to her umbrella, but didn’t brandish it yet. “Who are you?”

The stranger glanced down at themselves and then slapped their forehead. “Oh dear, I didn’t mean to reveal myself like this, but I was in such a rush to stop you from falling, I forgot to change form. Here, let me be something more familiar.” Their shape warped and glitched until they solidified into the form of the Badge Seller. “There, that’s better,” they said in the flat voice Hat Kid recognized of their friend.

“Wait, Badge Seller? Is that you?” Hat Kid relaxed her posture. “What was that other form? Is that what you really look like?”

The Badge Seller reverted back to their old floating form. “Yes, I suppose the secret is out of the bag now,” they said with a chuckle, in what Hat Kid guessed was their real voice. It still sounded so familiar, but she couldn’t place it. “My name is really Moonjumper.”

Hat Kid stared with wide, sparkling eyes. “Whoa. Thanks for catching me earlier. I didn’t see that ditch.”

“Of course! I know you’re a tough cookie, but I couldn’t let you get bruised up on account of chasing after me.”

“Oh yeah, about that. Were you watching me?”

Moonjumper rubbed the back of their neck, averting their eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to spy like that. I’ve been watching from a distance for a while now. I would have introduced myself properly sooner except...well, the Snatcher does not exactly like me, so I have to keep hidden, or disguise myself as Badge Seller.”

“Ohh, that makes sense.” She tilted her head. “Why doesn’t he like you?”

Moonjumper’s laugh sounded a bit more high pitched than necessary. “Well, that’s something you’d be better off asking him, I think! But he wouldn’t like that either.”   
  


“If you tell me, I promise I won’t tell Snatcher. Promise,” said Hat Kid.

“Haha, it’s a long, complicated story, kid. The long and the short of it is that I remind him of the past, and he very much does not care for that at all.”

Hat Kid pouted a bit at not getting to hear the details. But the mention of Snatcher’s past caught her attention. “Did you used to live in Subcon before too? Like the Dwellers?”

“Eh, yes, in a way.” Moonjumper stroked their chin. “Like I said, it’s very complicated, and I’m not sure Snatcher would want you knowing it. And he would definitely know I’m the one who told you.”

“You can’t just say that and leave me hanging!” Hat Kid went out on a limb. “Did you know the Prince and Queen Vanessa?”

Moonjumper paled at the mention of them. “How do you know about them?”

Hat Kid scuffed the ground with her boot. Based on Moonjumper’s reaction, she probably hit the nail on the head, but she felt kind of bad about reminding them. It wasn’t a fun story. “Well, you know those time pieces I spent a long time hunting down?”

“Yes, I remember.”

“When they break, they form something called a time rift.” Hat Kid explained the concept, and how one must have formed from Snatcher’s memories, and she saw what had happened to him.

Moonjumper stared hard at the ground for a while after she finished. “I see.” They looked up at her. “That’s...not really something I, or he for that matter, would want you to have seen. It is a painful tale. He doesn’t know that you know, right?”

Hat Kid shook her head. “So you knew the Prince then?”

“Yes, I...knew him quite well. Also I would advise keeping your knowledge of his story a secret. I would hate for him to lash out at you as well.”

Hat Kid rolled her eyes. “Ugh, he already does that. Especially now. He’s being such a butt, but I think it’s my fault this time.”

It was Moonjumper’s turn to roll their eyes. “Trust me, I highly doubt that. Snatcher has a poor handle on his emotions, and that’s speaking generously.”

“That’s true. He’s a typical Soon-Deh-Ray,” Hat Kid said with a nod.

“A what?”

“I think it means that sometimes you’re nice, but then sometimes you’re mean to the people you like. Except I can’t tell if he actually likes me or if he just wants my soul. So confusing!” Hat Kid groaned, tugging the brim of her hat down. “Sometimes, it seems like we’re just having some fun. And then! He gets all grumpy and makes the contracts really hard and makes fun of me when I mess up.” She waved her hands as she talked, the gestures becoming increasingly dramatic as she ranted. “But then he still does nice things too, but he pretends he’s not being nice and tells me I’m dumb when I thank him for being nice. He’s so weird! Auggh!”

Moonjumper stifled a laugh at her last declaration, but for the most part listened with a distant, somber expression. “He is, isn’t he? I’m afraid I understand the frustration all too well. As I’ve said before, though, I’ve been watching from a distance for a while. And speaking from personal experience as someone Snatcher genuinely doesn’t like, he does not dislike you.”

A weight lifted off Hat Kid’s shoulders just a bit. “You really think so?”

“I know so. Remember, I’m quite familiar with his manner of thinking. I’ve known him for much longer than you.” Moonjumper gave her an encouraging smile. A bit of a scary one, since they had a distorted eye and prominent canines, but the thought behind it came across well enough.

“How can you tell?”

“Hah, believe me, if he actually disliked you, he would have no trouble being very blunt about it. For quite a while, he’s been holding back with you. Like him, I can’t actually come to life-threatening harm, seeing as I have no life to threaten, so I’ve borne the brunt of his attacks on multiple occasions.” Moonjumper’s smile twisted to something more bitter. “From back when I was still trying to be friends.”

Hat Kid gaped in indignation. “He attacked you?” She was happy to hear that Snatcher probably cared about her at least a little, but the feeling was quickly overshadowed.

This time Moonjumper openly laughed at her expression. They held up their hands to placate her. “It was a long time ago, not to worry. We have established our boundaries. Quite firmly.”

“Why do you still hang around? It sounds like he’s a real jerk to you.”

“Well, I leave sometimes to go sightseeing. Being the Badge Seller is a nice way to interact with people from all over the world. But Subcon is my home too. Despite all that has happened here, like Snatcher, I have no wish to leave it.” Their smile softened, and they stared off into the forest beyond, like they were taking in the sight of all the scenery that made up their home.

Their admission did little to appease Hat Kid. “That’s not fair of him. If it’s your home too, he shouldn’t force you to stay hidden all the time.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you sure you don’t want me to try and convince him to leave you alone?”

“No, truly, don’t worry about me. Like I said, we have reached our own agreement. I would rather not get involved with him anymore. And besides, you said he is currently being, and I quote, ‘a butt,” so I would hate for you to draw any more ire from him by bringing up me.”

“Mmm, if you say so,” Hat Kid said. They were probably right. If Snatcher really hated Moonjumper that much, then yelling at him about his treatment of them would not make his pecking Mood any better, especially when she had already planned to apologize about falling asleep while he was reading. “Well, I guess I’ll head back to the hollow. I wanted to talk to Snatcher about some stuff. Thanks a bunch, Moonjumper. Can we talk more soon? Maybe I can show you my ship.”

They beamed at her. “Of course! I would be happy to. I’m always keeping an eye out, so if you are on the look out for me, I will come and meet you.”

“Yay! See you soon!” Hat Kid waved goodbye, running back the way she had come toward the path that led back to Subcon’s heart. She remained in good spirits for most of the journey, right up until she came to the perimeter of the hollow. She crept toward the edge of the pool that surrounded his tree. Snatcher was sitting in his usual place with a book--different from the one he had read to her several nights ago. That guy could read fast! Even when the books were honestly so boring.

Hat Kid collected her thoughts and took a deep breath before jumping up into the hollow. Snatcher looked up from his book when he heard her enter.

“Oh, it’s you. Here I thought I could get a whole day of peace. Unless you’re here to do another Death Wish?”

“Um, no, actually I wanted to apologize.” The brim of her hat blocked most of his face from her view. Hat Kid tilted her head up just enough to get a glimpse of his expression.

“What? What? For what?”

His reaction threw off all of her mental calculations. He really seemed like he was mad at her this whole time. Usually that meant she did something wrong. What if she guessed the wrong reason? Her stomach sank at the idea that she might be apologizing for the wrong thing. It happened before with the grown ups from home, and usually they got even more upset about it. After a while, Hat Kid had gotten pretty good at figuring out what type of apology to give them when they were mad, but Snatcher was different, so she hadn’t had time to figure him out yet.

“Kid? Hello? What are you talking about?”

“I’m sorry for falling asleep while you were reading to me!” she blurted. “I know I was bothering you but you did it anyway and then I fell asleep. Is that not what you’re mad about?”

Snatcher still looked dumbfounded, to the point that his trademark grin had completely dropped off his face. He stared at her slackjawed.

“What on earth makes you think I’m mad?” he finally asked.

Now it was her turn to stare in bewilderment. “What? What are  _ you _ talking about? You’ve been acting all grouchy to me for like three days!”

“Kid, I’m always grouchy to you because you’re always being a pest.”

Frustration was starting to build. Was he just pretending not to know to be extra mean? “No, it’s  _ different _ . You keep telling me to leave you alone and avoiding me, and you’re being extra mean when I mess up during the Death Wishes.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Yes, I’m mean? How is that different? I’m a soul-snatching spirit who’s trying to put an end to you. Seriously, what are you going on about?”

Hat Kid opened her mouth and then closed it again. Oh he was so infuriating! He wasn’t being normal, she was sure. Her guardians back home were always telling her that she was blowing things out of proportion, and it made her crazy every time. “No! You’re not! I can tell! Sometimes you’re nice, and we have fun. Even when you make rude jokes, they’re not serious. I’m not stupid, I can feel the difference. It all started when I tried to read with you, so it has to be that, right?”

He glared at her, rising out of the chair. “Nice? I think you’re getting the wrong picture here,  _ kid _ . You know what, you’re right. You’ve been way too presumptuous about the nature of this arrangement we’ve got, and you think you can just waltz into my house and make yourself right at home and interrupt me and my time. That’s my fault for letting you get too cozy that you forgot that we’re enemies here. I’m trying to  _ kill _ you. We are not having  _ fun _ . Get that into your head. The reading thing was an anomaly. Don’t expect it to happen again.”

Enemies. How many times had she heard that one before. Tears pressed at the corners of her eyes, and Hat Kid clenched her jaw to force them back in. She did not cry in front of grown ups. She was usually pretty good about keeping things together, but his words really cut her this time. She’d had it with the double-crossing. 

“Okay,” she said, controlling her voice. She hit the transporter signal on her hat, and zipped back up to her ship.

She ran back to her bedroom as soon as she landed and dove into her secret spot in the pillow mountain and scribbled with red ink into her diary, wiping the tears away now that she had privacy.

When Snatcher first invaded her ship, she had been surprised but happy to see him. It’s not like him attacking her was that different from the treatment she got from other people on the planet, so she didn’t feel that weird about hanging out with him after all that. At first Snatcher seemed like he kind of wanted to hang out with her too, and at first his challenges had been fun. And she liked listening to him read that one time, even if the book was super boring.

Right now, though, he was just acting like the rest of the grown ups in her life--the ones she ran away from. They probably weren’t even looking for her or wondering where she was. Snatcher was probably happy that she was leaving him alone and not being a bother like he kept saying. His grumbling was only fun when she could believe that he didn’t mean it, but now she wasn’t so sure, and it hurt extra bad after what Moonjumper told her. The idea that Snatcher might be sort of like a friend had been a ray of hope that he immediately crushed. Maybe he was right. She was stupid after all for thinking that they might be. That wasn’t the kind of life she got to live. Hat Kid curled up in a ball.  _ Yeah, get that into your head. You’re not the kind of person who has  _ friends _. _

  
  


The blare of the intruder alert made Hat Kid jump. The pillow she had been lying on had pressed creases into her cheek. Apparently she’d fallen asleep. Who would be coming on her ship now? Cooking Cat maybe? Hat Kid rubbed at her puffy eyes. She wasn’t sure she was in the mood to chat, but Cookie would at least make something delicious if she asked. Either way, she had to check on the intruder, so Hat Kid began to clamber out of her nest when she heard a familiar voice.

“Hey, kiddo? You there? Hello?”

Hat Kid sank back into her cave. What the peck was he doing here? She was  _ really _ not in the mood to deal with him, especially when it was so obvious she had been crying. What more could have to say to her? Well, he would probably get impatient soon enough and leave. Being a ghost though, he moved so quietly that she couldn’t tell where he was or if he was leaving. Hat Kid sat very still for a few minutes. After a few more, she began to fidget. She had no idea if the coast was clear.

Slowly, she pushed her way back up to the top of the pillow pile, poking her head out just a bit to scan the room. She gasped when the pillow on top of her lifted away from her head. Hat Kid looked up.

Snatcher floated above her, holding the pillow. He looked grim, and as far as a ghost could look tired, he did. “There you are.”

Hat Kid pulled her hat brim down forward to block her eyes. “What do you want? If you’re here about more contracts, I’m not doin em.”

Snatcher sighed. “Yeah, no, I figured.” He rubbed his wrists. “So about earlier…”

Hat Kid folded her arms. “What about it? You made yourself pretty clear.”

He sat on the pillows just next to the entrance to her nest. “Okay, listen. I think that maybe, I kind of said some things that were probably not exactly what I meant so I wanted to clear things up.”

“Naw, I think I get it already. You don’t have to explain. Contracts, I die, you take my soul, the end. Maybe I won’t sign the contracts then. Maybe you just have to kill me like the rest of the other guys. No song and dance because I don’t like this one.” She was practically talking directly into her hat, she had pulled it so far down her face by now.

Silence followed for several beats, and Hat Kid sighed inwardly. She had it right, hadn’t she? She didn’t want him to kill her, not even a little bit, but she was also so drained, she wasn’t sure she could fight him off the way she had last time.

“Wait, slow your roll, kid.” Snatcher spoke each word with care. “First of all,” he took a deep breath, “maybe, I guess, I might have used slightly too strong wording when I said, uh, well.”

“When you said we’re enemies,” Hat Kid finished, deadpan.

“Right, yeah, that. Um. And-and that, ugh, that there’s no fun allowed. I guess.”

She just stared at him, eyes small. Honestly what was he saying?

He rubbed his wrists again, and Hat Kid took a spiteful delight that he actually seemed a bit unsure. “So what I mean to say is. Look, you’re not. What I mean is. You’re not a bother.”

“So you...don’t not want me around.”

“I don’t not want you around.”

“And so when you were all mad earlier, you didn’t mean any of that?”

“Okay, listen, I had some stuff on my mind? I guess! And you went and called me nice on top of that? I-I have a reputation to uphold, you know.”

“So…”

Snatcher threw up his hands. “So no! No, I didn’t mean it.”

Well, that was reassuring at least. But then...“What about before that?”

“What?”

Hat Kid huffed. “I mean what I was talking to you about in the first place, before you pecking exploded on me!”

“About me being  _ different _ ?”

“Yes!”

Snatcher paused, opening his mouth several times but failing to find his words. He resembled fish, and Hat Kid clenched her jaw again, but this time to avoid laughing. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “Maybe I was acting different, but-”

“You were.”

“Okay! I get it. I mean, I wasn’t trying to be. Like I said, I had some stuff on my mind.”

“What kind of stuff?”

He gave her a somewhat desperate look. “Kid, come on, I-listen, some things you don’t want to talk about, you know?”

It occurred to Hat Kid that he might be referring to some aspect of his past, which would explain why he was being so prickly. She backed off. If it was that, then she could accept not knowing about it at least. Hat Kid reached up and patted him on the hand. “It’s okay, Snatcher. I think I get it.”

The physical contact startled him, though he fought to conceal it. “Second of all,” he added, “I wasn’t actually mad about the reading thing. So, don’t...don’t worry about it.” He wasn’t looking at her at all as he said this, but was instead staring off into space like his mind was somewhere else.

Hat Kid’s spirits lifted a tinge. “Could we do it again?” she whispered.

“Ugh, seriously? You want me to-alright! Fine! Yes.”

A smile finally broke past her defenses and spread across her face. “Really?”

Snatcher groaned, covering his face with his hand. “Ye-es, really. Why you want to, I don’t know but fi-ine.” He took another composing breath. “Look, you can.” Breath. “You should still.” Breath. “I want you to still come to the forest. If you want. I made the contracts because I want you to do them. So I guess there can be a little fun.” He muttered the last bit. Snatcher held out a hand and from a vortex of shadow, pulled out an adorable yellow raincoat. “I don’t want you to feel like you have no incentive. I promised some rewards, and I don’t renege on my deals, so here.” He held the coat out to her, still refusing eye contact like a drama queen.

Hat Kid let out a small gasp and took the coat. She pulled it on and twirled around in it. “It’s so cute! I love it.”

Snatcher finally snuck a glance at her sidelong. His signature smile was sneaking back onto his face. “It’s not just fashion, you know. I infused it with some extra effects. It doesn’t let you breathe underwater, but it forms a protective bubble that’ll keep you from drowning for a little while. And it offers some heat resistance too. As recompense for all those lava levels, I guess.”

“You made it?”

He looked indignant. “Obviously! Why do you think it fits so well? You think I went shopping?”

Hat Kid giggled at the idea of Snatcher floating through a department store, rifling through the racks. “Thanks, Snatcher. It’s perfect.”

He averted his gaze again, rubbing the back of his head. The gesture reminded her of Moonjumper when they got sheepish during their earlier conversation. “Yeah well, don’t thank me yet. There are still a lot of challenges I have for you.”

“Haha, right. I won’t give up yet, then.”

“Good kid. You’re not the giving up type.” He lifted off the pillow stack. “Well, uh, good talk, kiddo, and I’ll see you fresh and early for some new contracts tomorrow, eh? I’m off!”

As he faded out, Hat Kid waved. “Good night, Snatcher.” He blinked wide-eyed at her before vanishing.

Hat Kid laid down on the floor of her pillow fort with a smile. She reached over to her diary, pulled it into her lap and wrote, “Never mind” in purple ink. Moonjumper would definitely have to hear about this, since honestly, she was still a little bit confused about the whole thing, and quite frankly her trust in him had taken a bit of a backslide. She was going to be a bit more cautious about how close she let herself get. But overall, her spirits had lifted after his awkward unspoken apology. He never actually said the words “I’m sorry” but they existed in the undertones. Snatcher might actually be physically incapable of saying sorry out loud, so Hat Kid didn’t expect miracles. The point was, he actually came and talked to her about their fight. No adult had ever done that for her before. Surely that did mean he cared at least a little bit?

The raincoat squeaked as she squirmed her way out of the pillow pile and toward her bed. Hat Kid clambered into bed with it still on, and it squeaked when she shuffled around to get comfortable too, but she was not going to take it off. It really was a perfect fit.


	4. The dress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A strange gift. The truth comes out. Some of it anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hat Kid: It's blue and black.  
> Snatcher: It's white and gold.
> 
> (Once again, thanks so much everyone for all your kind comments! It's really making this so much fun! We're really starting to ramp up the story and I'm so excited. I know I have some comments to reply to still, but this week was devoted entirely to expelling chapters 9 and 10 from my brain so that I could be a sane person who has other thoughts again. Those chapters needed...finesse. You'll see.)

Hat Kid held up Snatcher’s latest reward, fighting to keep her face neutral. Generally, she loved the gifts. He had a weirdly good sense of style, and she wore the outfits frequently while doing his challenges. This one, though…

“I gave this one cold resistance properties. You’ll never feel worse than lukewarm in it,” Snatcher was explaining, fortunately not paying too much attention to Hat Kid’s less enthusiastic response.

The memories of the purple time rift flashed back into her mind, and the old Queen Vanessa, in her brilliant green dress stared back at her as Hat Kid contemplated the new outfit. Remembering the chilly air of the manor made her skin break out into goosebumps. Why did he make this? The fact that it prevented frostbite made it even more of a puzzle.

“Kid? Don’t tell me you don’t like it. Usually you’re already wearing it by the time I’m done talking.”

Whoops. She was being too obvious. “No, I like it! I’m just taking it in.”

Snatcher looked skeptical but didn’t comment further.

Hat Kid swallowed her reluctance and pulled the dress on over her normal clothes. A sudden warmth enveloped her like a hug. Okay, the dress was cozy, and honestly without the bad association with the crazy queen, it was just as fashionable as the rest. Hat Kid didn’t really do dresses all that often, but sometimes she liked to feel fancy.

“It’s really nice,” she managed to say. Hat Kid turned toward the mirror in her bedroom and was immediately grateful her hair was brown, not blond. She turned back to Snatcher who seemed to be having a similar internal crisis.

“You know, maybe I should make some tweaks to the design,” he said. “It’s not really working. Doesn’t seem like you vibe with it, no?”

“Maybe not green,” Hat Kid suggested, hoping it wouldn’t be too obvious what she was thinking about.

“Right, right. Not your color?”

“No, well, maybe not this bright. Or not in dress form.”

“Right. Yeah. Sure. I’ll, uh, go do that.”

“Totally, totally.”

She handed back the dress, and he teleported away with it. Hat Kid exhaled in a rush. She hurried over to her own teleporter and punched in the coordinates for the outskirts of Subcon. Hopefully Snatcher would be distracted enough to not question her presence there. Things had been better again between them after they had their talk, but Hat Kid still didn’t feel surefooted with him--not entirely. On the other hand…

“Moonjumper!” she called out into the vacant woods.

Within only a few minutes, her friend floated up out of the darkness, giving her their usual comforting smile. “Hello there! Good to see you again.”

  
  


With Moonjumper, Hat Kid could feel totally assured. They were far more consistent in how they acted around her, which was to say, always delighted to have her company. “I don’t get much in the way of lively conversation,” they’d told her when she commented about it.

“Good to see you too,” she said. The two of them fell into stride with each other as they walked toward their usual hangout spot near the edge of a stream basin. Moonjumper apparently spent a lot of time hiding out there. Being closer to the outskirts of the woods, Snatcher paid less attention to this area than near his village and the bridge to the Manor, so Moonjumper relished the relative peace.

“You seem a bit subdued today,” said Moonjumper, floating alongside her. “Don’t tell me you had another argument with Snatcher already.”

“No, not a fight. Just a weird moment. So remember how I know about his past because of the time rifts? And you know how he makes me some cool rewards for completing his challenges?”

Moonjumper nodded along.

“Yeah, so he made me the queen’s dress. But both of us felt weird about it. Why would he make that when she...well.” Hat Kid trailed off. She wasn’t exactly sure how much Moonjumper knew about what happened, though they implied previously that they did. For their part, Moonjumper’s expression flashed with alarm when she described the gift.

“He did what?” They subsided into a more thoughtful posture. “Hmm, I suppose he…” Moonjumper glanced nervously at Hat Kid, like they weren’t sure whether to talk about it.

  
“I mean, she,” Hat Kid lowered her voice to a whisper, “killed him. I thought he would never want to be reminded of that ever again.”

Moonjumper wrung their hands. “Ehh, feelings can be complicated, my friend. I think he does want to forget about it but. Well it was a big part of his life. The queen did, yes, hurt him very much, but. She was also very important to him. Perhaps that bled through unexpectedly when he was crafting it for you.”

“I don’t get it,” said Hat Kid. “If something bad like that happened to me, I don’t think I would ever want to think about it ever.”

“Perhaps you wouldn’t, but grief can be very messy, I can tell you that much. You can never truly predict how you would react to such things.” Moonjumper brought their smile back. “But, that’s not the sort of thing for you to have to worry about. It’s no good to ponder horrible what-ifs before they ever happen. No need to make yourself suffer without cause.”

“Yeah…” She reflected on what Moonjumper said earlier--the Prince’s memory of Vanessa bleeding through when making Hat Kid a gift because it was important. Moonjumper was clearly right. Feelings were complicated, because Hat Kid still couldn’t wrap her mind around Snatcher’s thought process. He was hard enough to sort out on a good day. But she wanted to know. If she had never stumbled across the time rift, or if the rift had never pulled from his memories, she never would have guessed that Snatcher had the kind of past that he did. The question was, were they at a place where she could ask about it? Moonjumper seemed to think not, the first time she brought it up, and she had no reason not to believe them, especially when Snatcher seemed to get very touchy about explaining his reasoning.

Plus, the idea of potentially alienating Snatcher again just to sate her curiosity filled Hat Kid with dread--the same kind of dread she used to feel whenever she messed something up back home and had to break it to whoever was in charge of her that day. With grown ups there always seemed to be a careful line to toe in order to keep them, if not happy with you, then at least satisfied. Getting them to stay on that line was hard work and so fragile. In that way, Moonjumper was her biggest relief. She never felt like she had to fight to keep them happy.

The conversation turned to more fun topics. Back in her original adventures here on Earth, Hat Kid ran into Moonjumper as the Badge Seller on many occasions, but they never really had a proper chat. Moonjumper wanted her to fill in all the blanks about her experiences traveling everywhere. They chatted for so long the lighting in the forest shifted with the passing of the hours.

“The alpine skyline was so nice! Except those cat villagers. They were really mean and kept stealing my hats. I normally like cats but not those ones,” Hat Kid chattered, and Moonjumper laughed. She didn’t notice the shadows around them darkening.

“ **What are you doing with her?** ”

Moonjumper leaped into the air, going stiff, while Hat Kid whipped around to see Snatcher towering over them both. “Snatcher! What are you doing over here?” She inched her way between the two spirits. Snatcher had a fixed grin on his face, the energy around him electric. He glared straight over her at Moonjumper hovering behind her.

“I felt your presence out here for hours, kid. Thought I’d come and check. Now stand back.”

Hat Kid stood firm, holding her arms out as a barricade. “No! Don’t fight! Moonjumper is my friend. Leave them alone!”

“Friend? What have you been telling her?” Snatcher snarled, all but ignoring Hat Kid’s pleas.

“Nothing out of line, I can assure you,” Moonjumper replied in a low, flat tone.

“Hello? Are you listening to me? Quit being mean!” Hat Kid jumped up and down to break Snatcher’s fixation.

“Don’t worry about me, my friend,” said Moonjumper. “I will take my leave in peace.”

Hat Kid turned to look back at them, and they were already floating backward into the darkness.

“I don’t think so. I warned you to stay out of my domain,” Snatcher said. A familiar thrum of power erupted from Snatcher, and Hat Kid saw the glow of an impending pillar of fire appearing beneath Moonjumper.

“Stop it!” Hat Kid leaped over, pushing Moonjumper out of the area of effect. The heat under the ground made her break into a sweat instantly. Ooh, this was going to hurt.

The burst of energy that would have shot straight up into her instead combusted somewhere in the earth, resulting in the ground only bucking Hat Kid up a bit as the aborted attack dispersed away from her, torching some of the nearby shrubbery. At the same time, Moonjumper had summoned a tangle of red threads, one of which had wrapped around her already to yank her out of danger.

“Kid! What the--DON’T DO THAT!” Snatcher shouted.

“Don’t fight!” she shrieked back. For a moment, she wasn’t sure Snatcher would listen to her, but eventually the magical energy that cloaked him subsided, and Moonjumper dismissed the red strings soon after. The two spirits stared each other down in tense silence.

“You should probably head back. Again, don’t worry about me. I will go now,” whispered Moonjumper. They floated away, and this time Snatcher let them go.

Hat Kid glared at him. “Seriously? What the peck?”

Snatcher turned on her. “I could ask you the same thing! What were you thinking jumping in the middle of us like that?”

“Bleh bleh blah, I’ve been hit by those before. Big pecking deal! You didn’t even have to use your attack in the first place!”

Snatcher raised a finger to argue but snapped his mouth shut and clenched a fist instead. Hat Kid huffed triumphantly because they both knew she was right.

“Ugh, fine. Okay! Just--let’s go.” He reached out and snagged her by the collar, earning a shouted protest, and teleported them both back to the hollow. When they landed in the center of Snatcher’s home, the two of them glared at each other.

“Don’t hang around with that guy. They’re not allowed to even be here,” Snatcher said, ending their standoff.

“You’re not the boss of me. I can hang out with whoever I want. And I told you, Moonjumper is my friend.”

“You’re on my contracts, kid. I absolutely am the boss of you.”

“Not right now. I haven’t signed anything new today. And anyway, that wasn’t one of the stipulations.”

“Hm, got it right that time,” Snatcher muttered. “Regardless, Moonjumper is an intruder here. I don’t want them around, and I definitely don’t want you fraternizing with them.”

“That’s not fair. This is their home too. You can’t just force them out because you don’t like them. What did they ever do to you?”

The air seemed to chill a few degrees. “They told you that, hm?” Snatcher asked quietly. Hat Kid backed away a few paces. She had never seen him angry like this. His temper always burned hot, even when they were arguing. “They’re lying, you know. They’re a spirit from another dimension. This is the last place they belong. And as for what they did to me?” He pressed his mouth into a tight line, falling silent.

“S-Snatcher?” Hat Kid said in a high voice. Over his shoulder, draped over the arm of his chair, was the dress he had made for her. He had recolored it in a deep crimson, similar to the color of Moonjumper’s cloak. Moonjumper had indicated that part of Snatcher’s hatred towards them had something to do with a past he wanted to keep hidden from her--one she already knew about. It occurred to her that they would never get anywhere if he kept trying to dance around that particular subject. Hat Kid took a deep breath and leaped off the proverbial ledge. “I need to tell you something important. Please don’t be mad.”

His eyes, which had been fixed somewhere off to the side now flicked over to meet hers. “What?” he asked warily.

She prefaced with her explanation of the creation of time rifts, same as she had with Moonjumper. She continued, “When the time piece breaks open on a person, the rift that opens up is based on their memories. When I go into the rift, I can see their memories playing out, almost like I’m there. There was one rift that I went into, and I think the time piece that created it broke on you.”

Realization spread across Snatcher’s face the moment she said that. He seemed too stunned to talk, so Hat Kid pressed on, hoping she could head off any impending rage.

“I didn’t realize it was you until the end, but...I know about the Prince. And Queen Vanessa. I’m really, really sorry. I pretended I didn’t know because it seemed really personal. And painful. I won’t talk about it anymore, but it seems like whatever happened with you and Moonjumper is hard to talk about if I didn’t know about that stuff, so I didn’t want to keep it a secret anymore.”

“Oh.” Snatcher didn’t say anything else for a long time. Hat Kid sat down on the floor and hugged her knees to her chest, waiting. He was surprisingly not acting as mad as she expected, but that scared her even more.

“How much did you see?” he asked, breaking the silence.

“There were several memories. One was from before things got...bad. It was you, uh, the Prince I mean, and her with the children in the village. And then one was when you were buying flowers.”

“Ergh.” Snatcher squeezed his eyes shut at that. Hat Kid stopped immediately. After another lengthy pause, he said, “And then?”

“Um. Then you were, um. In the-in the cellar. But you weren’t the Prince anymore. You were, well. You were you.”

Hat Kid didn’t like talking about it any more than he seemed to like hearing about it. It had been like she was right there watching as Vanessa had chained up the Prince, but she couldn’t do anything. She couldn’t save him or comfort him as he despaired alone in the cellar and Vanessa shifted into the monster that she was. Even when his shadowy spirit separated from his body, he had been crying, and Hat Kid had to just sit there and wait for the memories to wash over before she could reach the time piece at the eye of the storm.

“That’s not...something I would want a kid to see,” Snatcher said.

“That’s what Moonjumper said too.”

He sneered, returning to the sanctuary of his scorn for the other spirit. “Did they now? How much else did they share with you, hm?”

“Nothing! They never said anything. They said it was better if you told me,” Hat Kid said, eager to defend her friend. “Seriously, what’s your problem with them?”

“Let’s just say they took something of mine and had the gall to act like my friend about it. That’s all I’m going to say about it, kid. Case closed.”

“It’s still not fair to say I can’t be around them, especially if you won’t explain why. I get that you don’t like each other, but they’re still my friend.” Hat Kid knew she was playing with fire here. This conversation was teetering on the verge of rubbing his old wounds raw, and that was enough to make anyone angry. She was lucky enough that he hadn’t already been more explosive about realizing his secret was out with her.

“Even knowing they lied to you about their identity?” he snapped.

“They said it was sensitive. It’s not like you’re telling me either. And you wouldn’t have told me about your past if I didn’t already know about it, would you?” she fired back. “Probably one of those things that kids shouldn’t know about, huh?”

For the second time in their conversation, Snatcher looked like he wanted to argue but had no leg to stand on. Which probably wasn’t doing wonders for his temper. He never liked when she turned the tables on him.

“If you’re worried they’re going to hurt me, they won’t. When your attack almost hit me, they were trying to pull me away from it,” Hat Kid said.

“I’m  _ not  _ worried!” Snatcher said, recoiling dramatically. “Like I care if you get hurt or not.”

Hat Kid pursed her lips at him. “Really.”

“Yeah, really.”

“So when you literally scolded me about jumping in between you, that was also because you  _ weren’t _ worried. Makes sense.”

He shrugged, but it was too stiff to be believable. “I mean, you caught me off guard. I didn’t want you getting in my way in the middle of a fight.”

The conversational momentum had shifted. If she had backed away from him earlier, now he was the one on his heels. Figuratively. She pressed her advantage. “Definitely something someone who isn’t worried would say. It’s not like you cared about hitting me with that same attack before. Honestly, you’ve hurt me more than Moonjumper has.”

Maybe she pressed too far. He actually looked a bit stung, which surprised her. He attempted a recovery. “Sound logic you got there, kid. Maybe it’s because  _ I wasn’t worried about you. _ ”

“Okay, so prove it. Next time you better just hit me with it.”

“I think I will!”

“No pulling punches!”

“Not in the slightest, kiddo!”

“Fine!”

“Fine!”

They both harrumphed and turned away from each other. Hat Kid knew she was being kind of obnoxious pushing his buttons like that. He was being so dumb though. Unless he got over himself and explained what exactly his beef with Moonjumper was, Snatcher had no other reason to try and stop her from hanging out with them. She really felt like he  _ had _ been worried, despite what he said to the contrary, but she reigned herself in slightly. She didn’t have any real concrete proof, so probably better just to avoid making assumptions about what his reasons for anything were.

Snatcher had stuck his face into the book titled “How to kill kids” and was reading it with pointed intent. Hat Kid rolled her eyes at the wall. And he called  _ her _ a brat? Honestly. She walked over to the ledge that overlooked the pool surrounding the house and dangled her feet just above the water. With the tips of her boots, she kicked ripples across its silky dark surface and watched the ever-burning flames in the distance.

As exhausting as he could be at times, Snatcher was still leagues better than what she had to deal with back home. She really thought that she could have impressed them by piloting a ship back all by herself. Surely that was something they would be proud of her for, something that would show them she wasn’t just an obligation. She could take care of herself, so they wouldn’t have to worry about that anymore. It didn’t make a difference though. They were the same as ever, and nothing she could do would make them even give her a pat on the back. At the very least, she knew how to make Snatcher mad, which was at least an emotion if not an ideal one.

Hat Kid stifled a yawn. She should probably head back to the ship, since it wasn’t like she was doing anything useful here, but the petty part of her knew the longer she milled about, the more it would annoy Snatcher. At this point, she was just daring him with her presence to make a snarky comment.

  
  


She must have fallen asleep again, though she didn’t remember when or how, but she woke up tucked into her bed back on the ship for the second time. Laid over the top of her on the blanket was the dress that had been draped over the armchair while the two of them had still been sulking at each other. Only, he had recolored it again to a vibrant purple that matched her usual getup and revamped the entire design so there was no way anyone could mistake it for having once been a replica of Vanessa’s. There was a note attached.

_ Kid, how’s this?  _ He had stamped his seal at the bottom.

Hat Kid checked the time. She last remembered being awake four hours ago. Snatcher had, at some point, reworked the dress while she had been sleeping in his hollow. She pushed herself out of the blankets and held it up to inspect. The design was far more modern looking now, once again prompting her to wonder how on earth he seemed to even be aware of fashion trends. It suited her taste much better now. She folded it off to the side of the bed and pulled the blankets back over her head.

  
  


Snatcher noticed the kid nodding off from over the top of his book. He had only glamoured the cover to  _ How to kill kids _ to make a point, but inside was a textbook on law. He didn’t need a book to tell him how to kill kids. Snatcher had fumed for a while about their little spat. No doubt she was going to hang out with that undead Moonfreak no matter what he said. Not like she ever listened to him, and she was only getting worse with time. It was his fault, really, for being embarrassingly unable to put his foot down. The last time they’d argued, he had actually made her well and truly mad, and for some reason, Snatcher had felt bad about it! To the point where he actually went to her to make up! What gives?

It didn’t help that she had him feeling guilty about a number of things. The kid had a point: in their battle for the time piece, he had thrown the whole kitchen sink at her, and she hadn’t left unscathed. But seeing her in the epicenter of his attack meant to hit the bodysnatcher made him seize up and he reacted without thinking. The fact that she had been so blasè about it got to him too. Not that she wanted to actually die, but she had a certain cavalier attitude toward her own well-being, especially when it came to reaching her desired objective. Surely a normal person would have never set foot in his forest again after all he’d put her through. Then again, he knew full well that compared to what she’d survived to get here, regular danger no longer startled her. Probably not a great thing to see in a kid.

Snatcher glanced to his right, noticing the dress. It still didn’t vibe with him. The crimson he’d chosen still echoed too much of the past. So she knew about that, huh? She had seen him at his weakest, and didn’t that just burn him up. Heaven forbid, she pitied him. On the other hand, that was a horrible thing for a kid to witness, and it’s not like he hadn’t seen some of her memories unbeknownst to her, so he could hardly say anything about it. As if she didn’t have enough on her plate. Snatcher picked up the dress, contemplating it.

He thought maybe making an iceproof dress with that design would have been a great way to stick it to Vanessa's memory, like an inside joke. Irony and all that. It didn’t work out so well though. Just left a bad taste in his mouth, seeing the kid associated with  _ her _ . It was creepy. And wrong. At least he knew now why the kid hadn’t seemed taken with it either.

It needled at him, this developing desire to shield her from certain things. All the Death Wish work he had done was toward the goal of finally winning her soul, and yet he seemed to build obstacles for himself along the way, like he was trying to prolong the fight. So, yeah, maybe he  _ had _ been worried about her. Damn kid. Like he was ever going to admit it. Snatcher began to modify the dress, pulling out the occasional illustrated book for inspiration.

When he finished, he floated over to where Hat Kid was sleeping, leaned awkwardly against the bark of the tree. Snatcher held up the dress to her to envision how it might look on her. This one he was pleased with.

“Okay, kiddo, time for bed.” He picked her up like a sack and took them both to her ship. Once there, he hesitated before tucking her into bed for the second time, laying the dress over the top of her. He searched around her room for a piece of paper. On the table nearby, there was a stack of papers, and as he shuffled through them for one to leave a note on, he noticed they were a pile of drawings. The one on top was of Hat Kid and Moonjumper. Snatcher grimaced and knocked it off the desk, crumpling it a little. Underneath were several of him, though--the two of them playing with the minions in the village, him sitting in his spot above her pillow mountain, her sitting in his lap as he read.

Snatcher placed a hand on the drawings, staring at them with something like awe. Suddenly self-conscious, he whipped his head back toward Hat Kid, still fast asleep. It stirred something inside him, that same needling thing he had been trying to ignore for weeks now. Snatcher squeezed his eyes shut. “Don’t,” he muttered to himself. He snagged a scrap of blank scratch paper, scribbled out the note and stuck it onto the dress before retreating back to Subcon.


	5. Imposter Syndrome

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snatcher's still a clam, but maybe Moonjumper will open up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been a hard week for a lot of reasons. I was looking forward to this. Hope you enjoy! Moonjumper is really in top form here.

Hat Kid and Moonjumper sat at a table facing the broad windows on the flight deck of her ship. Although they couldn’t actually drink anything, Hat Kid had set out a teacup for them anyway and Moonjumper politely pretended to sip from it as the pair watched the planet turn beneath them.

“So Snatcher knows that you know now,” Moonjumper said after Hat Kid told them about the discussion she’d had with Snatcher. They took a long fake sip from the cup.

Hat Kid nodded. “He took it surprisingly well. I thought he would get all angry and we’d get in another big fight, but I was tired of keeping it a secret, and I thought it would help us talk about why he has such a big problem with you.” She took a swig from her own mug, which actually had contents in it. “It didn’t really work though. He’s just as cagey as before. He just said you took something from him and didn’t want to say anything else. I didn’t push it because he already seemed like he was in a bad mood.”

She chewed on her lip. Moonjumper watched her with a slight furrow in their brow, like they were worried she would say something else. That jogged her memory. “Actually, he also said you aren’t from Subcon like you said, but you’re from another dimension?”

Moonjumper blanched. “Oh dear,” they said.

Hat Kid frowned. “Wait he was right? Did you lie to me?”

They held up their hands. “I may have omitted that bit, but I didn’t lie about being from Subcon either. It’s...quite complicated.”

She put a hand on her hip and leaned forward on the table, all cool like the Moon Penguins. “Lay it on me.”

Moonjumper rapped their knuckles together, grimacing. “I’m not sure it’s ideal to say.”

Hat Kid threw her hands in the air. “Both of you are so secretive! How am I supposed to trust either of you if you won’t tell me things? I’m not a little baby, I can handle complicated.” She caught herself. “Unless it’s too painful to talk about. I guess I understood why Snatcher didn’t want to tell me his stuff, so if yours is like that, then I understand too.” She knew she had to be sensitive to that, but a big part of her wanted to understand the bad blood between her two friends because if one of them really had truly harmed the other, it would be hard trying to stay friends with the offending party. She trusted Moonjumper and so far they really did seem nice, but Snatcher really seemed to loathe them for some reason, and she wanted so badly to know if she was being foolish with her trust yet again, before she really got in too deep in the friendship.

Moonjumper cringed slightly at her frustration. “You-you’re right. Of course. I suppose I have just been trying to be careful about what I think Snatcher doesn’t want you to know, but. Well, it is my story too, and I should decide who to share it with.” They took a moment to psych themself up and sat up straighter.

“I am indeed a spirit from another dimension called the Horizon. It is a prison of sorts--a prison of endless emptiness. Somehow I managed to find a weak point in the veil that separates it from this world, and I was drawn to it. When I entered this dimension, I had no sense of identity. ”

“Whoa, that sounds awful. Why were you stuck there?”

“To be honest with you, I’m not sure. My memory of it is quite fuzzy, since I wasn’t really a person then, if that makes any sense. It was like...it was like being stuck in a dream. Everything is very blurry, it doesn’t follow any sort of logic. You simply experience  _ being, _ but you can’t comprehend it because there is no  _ you _ to do it. Who knows how I got there. Perhaps I was someone before, and after I died, I was trapped there. Or perhaps that was simply where I was born. It’s hard to say.”

They gritted their sharp teeth, seeming nervous about what they were going to say next. “Well, once I got here, there were suddenly sensations that were completely new to me, and I had no memory to guide me, only compulsion. I floundered to the nearest physical form I could find. You see, when Snatcher became who he is now, he...left behind his corporeal form when the Prince died.”

Hat Kid’s mouth dropped open a little. “No way.”

“Yes, I, uh, well, I had no idea what I was getting myself into, having no sense of anything really. I just needed a vessel, so I, well, took over his.” They fidgeted with their hands in their lap.

“His dead body,” she finished flatly.

Moonjumper rubbed the back of their head. “Yeah?” they said in a high pitched voice. “Unfortunately, entering a physical body brought all the memories and sensations of that form, and I was flooded with all the memories of the Prince. I felt his whole life as though I’d experienced them myself. All his hopes and dreams...and pain and heartbreak. All at once.”

Hat Kid clapped a hand over her mouth as she remembered something. She pointed at them across the table. “Wait! So when you told me you knew the Prince really well…”

“Yes, I meant that I, in a way, am the Prince. But not quite? I have all of his memories and feelings as though they were mine from the start. I remember his whole life, but, well, those  _ belonged _ to Snatcher.  _ He  _ lived that life, not me, technically.” They stared down at their hands, absently rubbing their arms. Hat Kid imagined what they must be remembering and shuddered. To suddenly wake up as the undead version of someone who had suffered like that seemed brutal.

“Okay, I gotta hand it to you, that  _ is _ pretty messed up,” she said.

Moonjumper’s eye twitched, and they let out a nervous laugh. “Isn’t it?” they exclaimed. “Only in the last several decades have I really started to find my own way. Trying to separate the Prince from me when everything I feel I’ve been  _ is _ the Prince has been a nightmare. And Snatcher only compounded it. When I discovered who he was, I hoped we could find some camaraderie in our shared experience, but he only sees me as a reminder of his hateful past that he wants nothing to do with. So I’ve had to face most of that on my own.”

On their own. Hat Kid knew what that was like. But she didn’t have the horrifying trauma of being killed by your fiance to deal with! Irritation flared up toward Snatcher. “I can’t believe he’s being so mean about it. It’s not like it’s your fault. He was being so dramatic about it earlier, like you did something so terrible to him. Shouldn’t he be happy someone else understands what he went through? I would kill to have a friend like that. What a jerk!”

“Heh, in fairness, I can understand his feelings about the situation to some extent. I think he feels I have stolen a part of his life.”

“But not intentionally! I mean, if you had another choice, I bet you wouldn’t have wanted his.”

“Ah, well, it’s a bit more complicated. It was hard, yes, but at this point, I think I’ve come to accept who I am now, and I’m grateful for what I’ve been able to experience because of it. Having a messy identity still feels better than having no identity at all.” They smiled a bit sardonically at themself. “But ah, you are right, at the heart of it, he has been a jerk. It took me a while to understand that there was no point in trying to fight him on that. He was going to do what he was going to do. I had to chart my own course eventually.” They sighed. “At the very least, he made me realize I had the freedom to be whoever I wanted to be, and I decided to, well not be like him. So I suppose I can thank him for being an unexample.”

Hat Kid reached across the table and patted them on the arm. They smiled at her encouragement. “I’m glad you’re you, Moonjumper. I couldn’t handle two jerky dead guys in one forest.”

Moonjumper wheezed laughing. It sounded rather similar to Snatcher, but less raucous, and knowing the full story, Hat Kid began to recall a laundry list of their matching tendencies. It made sense why Moonjumper’s voice sounded so vaguely familiar when she first met them. The whole conversation had been a huge relief. To know that things had been largely a big misunderstanding as well as Snatcher just being, well, himself, really bolstered her trust in Moonjumper. She was starting to feel far more confident that they truly were a friend and didn’t have some ulterior motive or expectation of her. She’d known them as Moonjumper for less time than she’d known Snatcher, but she felt like she understood them way better already. They were a lonely soul, just like her. 

“I’m very glad you chased me down that one time,” Moonjumper said once they’d composed themself again. “I thought I could be content watching from a distance, or just being Badge Seller, but having someone to talk to properly has been so refreshing. See, as difficult as it was to cope with being the Prince, now I have the opportunity to be friends with you! I didn’t realize just how lonely life used to be...”

“I’m glad too! I’ve never had someone I could talk on and on with. I always feel like I’m talking too much, but I can’t help it. There’s so much that wants to come out, and sometimes I can’t stop myself. Usually people get annoyed with all the talking,” Hat Kid said.

Moonjumper’s expression faded into concern. “Do they really? I can’t imagine. I enjoy your stories, even if I don’t understand many of them. They are so vibrant and full of life. You really have an adventurous soul!”

“Oh yeah, I got told to be quiet a lot. And sometimes there wasn’t anyone even around to tell me to be quiet. Sometimes all I had to talk to was Rumbi, but he’s a vacuum cleaner. He never gets irritated with me, but he has limited conversation skills. It’s just not the same.” Just then, Rumbi trundled by with a dismayed beep. Hat Kid tossed a cookie on the floor for him to gobble up, which he did greedily. “No offense, Rumbi! I still love you!” Rumbi trilled at her, all forgiven.

She continued, “Even Snatcher sometimes seems like he gets annoyed if I go on and on too much. But sometimes it’s fun to do it on purpose because his reactions are funny, and he’s really easy to pester.” Hat Kid reflected on that last point. He always did react, which was different from the other grown ups she’d spent her life dealing with, who dismissed her often. Probably that was why she always liked to push his buttons--partly because it was hilarious and a sure way to get his attention and partly to test the limits of where he drew the line. So far she hadn’t reached it, which surprised her.

Moonjumper smirked. “Hmph, he’s one to talk. Since I can say this now, I have insider information that the Prince could be a truly royal pest. He likes to pretend that he’s above all that now, but he can’t hide from his roots.”

Hat Kid’s eyes sparkled. “That’s some juicy gossip. Tell me more.”

“Oh yes!” Moonjumper said, floating up from the chair. They made broad, animated gestures as they drifted around the table. “Not only could he easily out-talk even your longest story, he was a prankster who loved to get a rise out of people. Quite frankly, being a ghost who scares people suits him well in the afterlife, for all the times I remember he would sneak up on people and startle them. Now that’s truly obnoxious behavior if you ask me. He can hardly pass judgment about harmless tangents about a favorite subject when he could go on for hours about the intricacies of law without letting someone get a word in edgewise.”

Hat Kid laughed till her stomach hurt as Moonjumper exaggeratedly roasted their own and Snatcher’s past self. Occasionally they would shoot a glance at her to grin at her reaction. She didn’t see much of the Prince himself, but he had been obviously well liked by the townsfolk, especially the children. They had constantly followed him and Vanessa, clamoring for their attention when Hat Kid watched Snatcher’s rift memory. 

“He couldn’t have been that bad!” Hat Kid said. She had tumbled off the chair in her laughing fit. “I saw him!”

Moonjumper wagged a finger. “Ah, but I  _ was _ him. You can’t get much better than that.”

After calming back down, Hat Kid leaned against the chair like a backrest and pulled her knees up to her chest. “It’s kind of crazy how Snatcher is so different now. Like, the Prince was nice. But then you’re still nice too. What happened?”

Moonjumper floated over and sat down next to her. “I suppose we made different choices about how we wanted to react to things, not to mention there’s quite a bit of resentment on his part about what I represent. Alas, I can guess at his reasons, but we diverged a long time ago. It would only be a guess.”

“Yeah, but you came from the same person. It’s like if a me from another timeline decided to be a huge peckneck.” Hat Kid paused. “Wait, I’m not the peckneck timeline, am I?”

That earned her another doubled-over laugh from Moonjumper. They gave her a hearty slap on the back. “I promise you, my friend, you are not. I can’t imagine any version of you who could possibly be sweeter.”

She elbowed them. “Now, you’re just flattering me! Are you trying to sell me more badges or something?”

“No, it’s true! Give yourself some more credit. And give me some more credit as a salesperson. I would be a much more persuasive sweet-talker if it were your pons I really wanted.”

“You literally told me some of your badges are terrible.”

“Hah! They are! But people still buy them anyway, didn’t I say? It’s because I’m so good at selling them.” They winked.

“Well, I guess I can’t argue with results,” Hat Kid said. “I guess I’m just not super used to people complimenting me. Like when I was hunting down my time pieces and DJ Grooves had me be his star and get fans? Wow, that was the greatest feeling ever! Show biz was hard work, but I can see why they do it.”

“Hm, yes you’ve indicated multiple times since we’ve met that your previous relationships have not exactly been positive,” Moonjumper said. “I can’t imagine why. It makes me wonder at the character of those people.”

A wave of embarrassment washed over Hat Kid. They had to be pulling her leg, right? Moonjumper couldn’t really be so quick to stand in her corner, could they? Surely, somehow, they had to be joking, but surveying them revealed only painstaking earnestness. Either they really were a legendary salesperson, or they were actually willing to go to bat for her so early in their friendship.

“Um, did I say something wrong? You’re turning pink,” Moonjumper said, craning their head around to look at her.

Hat Kid reached up to cover her cheeks. They were quite warm. “No, it’s just, like I said, I’m not used to that. I feel like I did something wrong.”

They pulled back, frowning. “What? What do you mean?”

She flapped her hands, struggling to figure out how to explain. “I don’t know. Like, I tricked you or something.”

“Tricked me? How?”

“I don’t know! Into thinking I’m so great, I guess?”

“Well, have you lied to me at all?”

“No! But-”

“Then how could you have tricked me?” Moonjumper laid a gentle hand on her back. “To trick someone, you have to do it on purpose. If I think you’re a wonderful person because you’re being yourself, that cannot be a trick.”

Hat Kid didn’t respond, instead tucking her knees closer so she could rest her chin on them.

“I think I get it,” they said. “You think, perhaps they like me now, because I’ve only shown them my best parts. When they see the rest of me, they will not like it, no?”

Well, they hadn’t seen the rest of her. She liked Moonjumper a lot, but they barely knew each other. Come to think of it, not many people really got to know her. After a while, she stopped really sharing things with the people from home since they were always busy and so hard to talk to. What she did share rarely seemed interesting enough to get their attention unless it happened to be relevant to what they were doing at the time. Flying herself back home got her probably the biggest reaction, but they were more shocked than anything else. Beyond that, people didn’t really seem to  _ like _ getting to know her. Hat Kid had gotten used to it by now, but having someone suddenly be genuinely very interested kind of felt like looking at the sun after being in a dark room.

Moonjumper seemed to interpret her further silence as agreement. “I know how that can feel. Perhaps not exactly the way you feel it, but I know what it is to feel like an imposter.”

Again, she couldn’t really argue with that. With their history, Moonjumper definitely had the qualifications to empathize. Probably worse than her, honestly, if their hints about their identity crisis were anything to go on.

“Thanks, Moonjumper. I’m sorry if it feels like I don’t believe you. People just seem to change their minds a lot.”

“Don’t worry about how I feel right now. I wouldn’t expect you to believe me, just because I say a few nice things. If it helps, I’m not going off of no evidence. Remember, I watched your adventures as Badge Seller too. I know you’re tenacious and resilient, and you are wonderfully charming because I have seen it with my own eyes.”

Right, she forgot to consider Badge Seller. It was still a bit weird treating them as the same person. Moonjumper as themself was a lot more conversational. In a way, they knew her better than she knew them.

“But these are still just pretty words, I know,” Moonjumper continued. “I will try my best to prove with my actions that I will not change my mind, as long as you’ll give me a chance.” They rose to their normal height and held out their hand to her. “Well, I may not be able to fix all your worries with a sweep of my hand, but I do know a little something that might brighten your spirits for a moment.”

Hat Kid gave them a curious look before reaching out and letting them help her to her feet. They offered up their other hand and once she took it, they closed their eyes, a serene smile on their face as they began to hum a jaunty tune and lead her in a dance.

As the two of them swung around, Moonjumper opened their mouth and in a crystalline voice, began to sing, “ _ On the coldest winter night, there’s a warm house waiting for you. Sit down by the fire, let me hear you tell your stories… _ ” Hat Kid’s mouth formed an O in surprise. They had a beautiful voice!

“ _...One day, one day the snow will melt away. And the birds will sing, my friend, and the spring will come again. Home will always be there, be there… _ ” They held up her arm and let her twirl around.

“ _...I say, I say, why don’t you come and play? While the flowers hum with bees, and the wind blows through the trees. Home will always be there, be there… _ ” They both spun around, hands locked, and Moonjumper had to pull her upright when she almost lost her balance.

It was a somewhat clumsy dance. Hat Kid didn’t know the song or the steps, so she just went along with her intuition and followed Moonjumper’s cues. But as they dipped and swayed, the two of them kept giggling through it, and she liked their singing. They were right. Just dancing around without caring about how it looked was a nice distraction from her previous thoughts.

The song finished shortly, and Hat Kid applauded. “That was beautiful! I didn’t know you could sing like that!”

Moonjumper ducked their head. “Yes, it seems to be a holdover from the Prince. He, er, well,  _ I  _ used to dabble in musical arts as a hobby. I played the violin as well.” Their expression became more pensive. “Vanessa and the Pr-I would play together sometimes.”

Hat Kid remembered the piano in the manor, and envisioned the prince and princess playing together in that room, filling it with music like what she had just heard. When Hat Kid had seen the music room, it had been dark and the piano clanged completely out of tune when she bumped into it. A far cry from the bright, joyous days it must have seen. She reached out and laid a hand on Moonjumper’s arm. “I’m sorry.”

“Hm? Oh, don’t worry about me.”   
  


“You always say that.”

They reached over to her hand and patted it. “Truly, it’s quite alright. That all was a long time ago. It was nice to have a music partner again--a fun one this time.”

“If you say so.” Hat Kid looked at them skeptically. People always said it was fine when things were not fine.

Moonjumper ruffled her hair, knocking her hat askew. “I do say so, kiddo.”

“Hey!” She laughed, straightening her hat. She gave him a sly look. “You sounded like Snatcher.”

Moonjumper’s eyes widened. “Hah! I suppose I did.” They bared their fangs and held their hands out like claws. “FOOOOOOL!” they shouted with a crazed expression. “YOUR SOUL IS MINE!”

Hat Kid toppled over on the floor again, cracking up, and Moonjumper quickly joined the hysterics. It took them both a while to calm down. Hat Kid flopped on the ground, staring up at the ceiling as she gasped for air.

“Hey, wait a minute,” she said, still breathless, “if you can sing and play music, then can Snatcher…?”

Moonjumper grinned. “He absolutely can.” They put a hand to their chin. “Though I’ve never heard him do anything remotely musical in centuries.”

“I’m gonna ask him to play for me,” Hat Kid said, determination burning in her eyes. She had a mission!

“Heh, good luck. If you can convince him, then I will be most impressed.”

Hm, Moonjumper had mentioned that playing music was something that would remind Snatcher of Vanessa, and he just  _ loved _ that so much. Maybe this mission would be harder than she thought. But part of her kind of wanted to push a little more, to test for another boundary. Plus, it would be amazing to be able to see him play. She probably ought to find Moonjumper a violin as well, so they could play too, instead of only sing.

“Well, it’s hard to tell the time when you’re up in space, but the clock on your screen is indicating that you should be in bed, young one,” Moonjumper said.

“Aww come on, I’m not tired yet!” Hat Kid deadweighted on the floor in protest.

Moonjumper floated behind her and hoisted her into a sitting position. Hat Kid kept her limbs as limp as possible, dragging like a sack of potatoes. “You’ll thank me in the morning, when you’ve had a proper rest,” they said, shuffling her along the floor.

“Nuh-uh, I just sleep in late if I gotta.”

“You’ll never grow taller if you keep up that habit.”

“Wait really?” Hat Kid sprang to her feet and sprinted into the bedroom. Moonjumper appeared soon after, chuckling.

She jumped into her pillow cave to change into her pajamas and leaped into the bed. “Well, if I’m going to sleep, you have to tuck me in like Snatcher does.”

Moonjumper stopped chuckling, genuinely surprised, though a gleeful expression bloomed on their face. “Does he?”

Hat Kid shared the conspiratorial look. “Yeah. He never mentions it, but I fell asleep on him like three times and I woke up here all tucked in the blankets every time.”

“Oh-ho! Now  _ that’s, _ as you say, juicy gossip.” Moonjumper rubbed their hands together. Once Hat Kid settled into bed, they draped the comforter over her and fluffed the pillows. They plucked the hat from her head and set it down on the table nearby. “Well, it was a good evening we had. Thank you for inviting me to your ship!”

“Oh wait, do you need me to teleport you back to Subcon? I forgot I was the one who brought you here.”

“Not to worry, I know the way back,” they said. They tipped their head in salute. “Good night, my friend. Sleep well!” The bedroom doors swished as they exited.

Hat Kid nestled deeper under the covers. It had been a good evening. With Moonjumper, she was really starting to feel confident in their friendship. It was too early to put too much hope into it, but maybe she was starting to find a place where she could belong.


	6. Winning an argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hat Kid tests some boundaries.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Glad you liked the sweetness of last chapter! This one ought to be pretty sugary too. I have to give fair warning though, starting from next chapter, it will get a bit more emotionally heavy. The angst balance might shift a bit. We do have to deal with Snatcher's many issues after all. But I'm doing a lot of work right now to make sure that I hit just the right tonal balance. So much revision, aiyah!

Hat Kid stood on wobbly legs on the Subconite’s shoulders. They wobbled too because they stood on yet another Subconite. “Almost there. Just hold still for a bit,” she said. She carefully placed the seventh cherry on top of the stack. “There!” No sooner than she said it, her base buckled underneath her, and she dropped heavily on top of them.

“Did it work?” She scrambled back to her feet, knocking over the minion she had just landed on. The cherry tower they had been building swayed a little but steadied after a moment. The three of them breathed sighs of relief as their audience of other minions whooped and cheered and the Dwellers did loops in the air. Hat Kid fist-pumped. “Yes! Can we get another one up there?”

“I don’t know, newbie. We would need another one of us to boost you,” said the one who she’d stood on. She had dubbed them Box, using similar conventions as she had for Stumpy. 

The one who held up the base of their stack, Burnie, shook their head. “Oh no, I’m not being the bottom again. Someone else do it.”

“Hmm, should we just blow it up then?”

“One more cherry!” a faction of their audience cried out.

“Blow it up! Blow it up!” another faction shouted.

Hat Kid jumped up to the top of a protruding rock. She hoisted her umbrella up to the sky and announced, “Okay, you all have to chase me, and whoever catches me gets to pick the one we do!”

The crowd of minions surged forward, and with a shrieking laugh, Hat Kid dove from the rock, activating her sprint hat and feeling each step power her forward with boosted speed. With flips and leaps, she dodged the onslaught of charging Subconites with practiced ease. Just like old times. The ones who got too close, she bopped with her umbrella before darting away.

Eventually, the numbers began to wear her down. Her dodges grew sloppier, and some minions even managed to grab onto her before she pulled out of their grip. Finally, gasping, she let one of them tackle her. They lay on the ground for a moment while Hat Kid giggled breathlessly, unable to speak yet.

“Okay,” she said, her lungs still burning, “ya got me. What’ll it be?”

“Blow them up!” the triumphant Subconite said from on top of her, completely unwinded due to not needing to breathe.

“Got it.” Still lying on her back, one arm draped over her eyes, Hat Kid shoved the minion off and raised her umbrella again. “Dwellers! Do the honors!”

Several of the silent spirits zoomed over to the cherry stack and absorbed into the cherry. The giant fruits glowed hot with their energy, making the air hum as they charged up, until BOOM!

The shockwave sent the nearby Subconites tumbling backward and fluttered Hat Kid’s hair and cape. A massive black scorch mark coated the mulchy earth and cherry fragments spattered the derelict buildings. The Dwellers who ignited the cherry bombs floated dizzily about.

“Awesome,” Hat Kid whispered. The Subconites who had been tossed about by the blast squirmed to their feet, and the entire village erupted in cheering and laughter.

It wasn’t long before Hat Kid noticed the shadows shifting. “Uh oh! Scatter!” she shouted, and everyone began to disperse as Snatcher rose up out of the ground.

“What the heck are you kids doing?” he bellowed. His attention landed on Hat Kid. “You!”

She screamed laughing, making a futile attempt to flee. She didn’t get far before something snagged her by the cape and picked her up like a kitten by the scruff. Snatcher dangled her upside-down in front of his face.

“Kid, when I gave you permission to hang out in my forest, it was under the assumption that you wouldn’t  _ resort to property damage and ballistics! _ ”

Hat Kid gave him a toothy grin. “Aw, we didn’t destroy anything. Just got fruit everywhere,” she said, holding her hat to keep it from falling off.

Snatcher narrowed his eyes at her. “I think some books fell off my shelf from the  _ earth-shattering kaboom _ I just heard. If I had ears, they would be ringing.”

This only made her laugh harder. The blood was starting to rush to her head, which probably wasn’t helping the giddiness. Still glaring at her, Snatcher released her cape, dropping her to the ground. Hat Kid only barely flipped herself over in time to not land directly on her head.

“Oh! You dropped me!”

“Sure did, kiddo. That’s what you get.”

“Come on, Snatcher, we’re just playing.”

He turned to reply before pausing, tipping his head up and squinting out into the darkness, smile fading. Hat Kid was about to ask him what was wrong when a chill breeze ran through her, cutting right through her coat and sinking into her bones. She looked down at her feet to see branches of ice creeping across the ground from behind her. Flakes of snow whipped past her as the wind picked up speed. Before she could run, Snatcher reached out with one hand, wrapping it around her waist and scooping her up. The gesture was so unexpected, it knocked the wind out of her a little. He held his other hand out against the wind and with a glow of purple and yellow, summoned a wall of flame that stymied the onslaught of the wind, melting the ice crystals that had formed on the ground nearby.

Hat Kid looked out over his shoulder and saw the crowd of minions she had been playing with fleeing toward the center of the forest where Snatcher’s home was. She pressed herself into his mane for security, clinging tight. She felt him go a little tense in response. Snatcher wasn’t particularly warm, but he at least provided some shelter from the wind--and a sense of protection from its source. Shadow enveloped them both, and she realized they were teleporting.

When the darkness cleared, the gentle golden light of the hollow made her blink. Snatcher tossed her onto the armchair, and Hat Kid found herself missing the comforting closeness. “Stay here,” he said and vanished again. A crowd of the minions surrounded her, all of them huddled at the base of the chair. Some of them cowered behind the furniture.

“It’s okay, newbie,” minion Box told her, patting her leg. “The scary queen makes it really cold sometimes, but Boss will take care of it.”

“Queen Vanessa,” Hat Kid whispered, curling up into a ball. She opened her stash of gear and pulled out the cold resistance dress Snatcher made for her. He had changed the style and color of it completely, and they had both tacitly agreed not to talk about the green dress incident. She tugged it on, relishing the instant warmth around her. She pulled her arms into it like a turtle and waited with the minions.

Hat Kid checked her transponder for the time. Only ten minutes had gone by but each one seemed to dilate. What if Vanessa had actually crossed the bridge somehow? Could he beat her? She remembered seeing some frozen Dwellers in the manor. Could Snatcher be frozen too? Just when she was starting to get worried about him, the firelight flickered.

“I’m baaack!” Snatcher materialized out of the floor, scattering the crowd of Subconites on his rug. With a few waves of his hands, the flames that continuously devoured the fencing around his house blazed higher and brighter, a tinge of blue glowing at their cores. “Coast is clear everybody. We’re back in business!”

The minions applauded and dispersed, but Hat Kid remained in the armchair.

“I know I put you there, but you’re in my spot, kiddo,” Snatcher said, hovering in front of her.

“She didn’t come to the village, did she? The queen?” Hat Kid asked in a small voice.

Snatcher looked at her in surprise. “No, just one of her tantrums. She’ll ice everything she can reach every so often. That usually includes the village.” He rolled his eyes. “Ugh, I just had the minions finish clearing up the ice from last time. Better just find another contractor. The little guys are eager, but not very efficient,” he told her in a stage whisper.

Hat Kid peered at him suspiciously. “Let me guess, by another contractor, you mean…”

“AHAHAHA!” He smacked her on the back, making her nearly tumble forward. “No, not this time, kid. Unless you  _ want _ to do the boring janitor stuff again!”

She popped her arms back out of the sleeve to steady herself. Hat Kid wrinkled her nose, remembering the smelly toilet he made her fight. “I think I’m good.”

The chair was plenty big enough to fit them both, so when she didn’t move, Snatcher shimmied her over to one side and sat down beside her.

“Does she do that a lot?” Hat Kid asked. Snatcher glanced down in the middle of floating a book over to himself.

“Eh, every so often. Heh, you seem pretty spooked about it.”

She glared at him. “Uh, yeah. You sent me to her scary old house, and she came charging at me down the halls! I had to hide under things while she stomped around!”

He averted his gaze, twiddling his fingers on the pages of the book. “Oh. Right. Forgot about that.”

“I didn’t!” Hat Kid shuddered, even with the warmth of her special outfit. “Plus you wouldn’t even let me use my hat abilities in there. What the peck, man?”

He scoffed as he read. “I never said that.”

“You suuuper did!”

“Super did not.”

“Super did too!”

“Look, kid, if you can show me the proof in writing, then fine, I’ll buy it. But until then,  _ did not. _ ”

“Oh I totally burned those.”

Snatcher shook his head and clicked his tongue. “That’s what happens when you don’t keep a good file. You might have been right, but now I’ll never be wrong.”

“Ugh, jerk. I bet you remember, and you’re just lying.” Hat Kid sulked into the depths of the dress.

He shrugged, grinning wide. “Maybe! You’ve got no legal recourse here!”

“One day, I’m totally going to win an argument with you.”

“That I would pay to see!”

They sat in silence for a while, only the sound of the pages turning and the ticking clock could be heard. Hat Kid was surprised he wasn’t kicking her out yet.

“Are you just going to sit there all night?”

Nevermind, there it was. Hat Kid didn’t particularly want to go back up to the ship. The air outside was still chilly, even after Snatcher had apparently blockaded the worst of Vanessa’s blizzard. “I don’t really want to move,” she said, staring down at her toes which were just poking out from under the dress.

Snatcher paused in his reading. He sighed, noticing her expression. “Yeesh, kid, she’s really got you freaked out, hasn’t she? Don’t you think you’d be safer in your ship?”

“It’s not really that.” Part of her was hoping he would carry her again. She knew he must have done it before during the times she fell asleep, but this was the first time she’d been awake for it. Hat Kid had felt very safe. “It’s just kind of lonely up there,” she said. 

He didn’t respond for a moment. “Oh,” he said, eventually, as though he actually got it.

“Just ‘oh?’”

“Yeah! Just ‘oh!’”

“Okay. Usually you argue with me more, just sayin.”

“Well, do you want me to? Take it or leave it, kid.”

“Okaay!” she huffed. More silence. More pages turning. “Can you play the violin?”

Snatcher lurched forward with a hacking cough. “Argh, what? Where did that come from?” He narrowed his eyes. “How do you know abou-Oh,  _ they  _ told you, didn’t they? What did I say about hanging out with them?”

She rolled her eyes. “You said a bunch of whatever, but we’re still gonna hang out. We’re cool. We talked about all kinds of stuff. I know who they are and everything now, and, by the way, you were being soo dramatic about what they did! Okay, it was a little messed up, but it wasn’t like they did it to hurt you specifically! They went through a lot too!”

“Are we seriously having this conversation again? Let me make this clear, I do not want to talk about the graverobber or any of that.” Snatcher slumped back in the chair, hard enough to make Hat Kid bounce a bit from the impact. “I figured you wouldn’t listen to me anyway,” he muttered.

“Yeah, no, you were being big dumb about it. Besides, this last time I hung out with them on my ship. That’s  _ my _ place, so you’re super not the boss of me there.”

He raised his hands in mock surrender. “Yeah, yeah, I get it, I get it.”

They sat next to each other, both of them with their arms crossed.

“So can you play?”

“Kid, seriously? Do these look like hands that can play a string instrument?” He held up his three claw-like fingers.

“I dunno. You can shape shift, can’t you? You turned into me when we battled.”

“I’m  _ not _ turning into you, especially not to play violin. That sounds like a cruel and unusual punishment, which is illegal here.”

“You don’t have to turn into me, I was just saying as an example!”

Snatcher held out a hand and shifted it. It became a fully articulated humanoid hand. He lifted it up next to his face with an exasperated look. Okay, Snatcher with a human hand was really pecking weird. A little creepy.

“Okay, never mind, change it back. I get it.”

“Yeah, thought so.”

A longer pause. “How about singing?”

“ _ No singing. _ ”

Hat Kid pouted. So far, mission failed. This was to be expected though. The Prince of Subcon and the King of Deflecting.

“Why would you even want to hear me?” he asked. “It’s been centuries since I’ve played, I’ll have you know.”

“I dunno. Moonjumper still sounded nice.” Also it might have been a nice change of interaction from their more commonly featured bickering or prolonged awkward silence.

“Congrats to them,” Snatcher groused, picking up his book and shoving his face in it.

“I like hearing you read,” she added.

He lowered the book slightly, shoulders relaxing a little. “Why don’t you just ask for that then?”

Hat Kid’s eyebrows shot up toward her hairline. “Would you really do it again? You got all hot about it last time,” she said, muttering the last bit.

Snatcher made a strangled grumbling sound in his throat. “Didn’t we talk about this? I said I would, didn’t I?”

“I have to be honest, that was a really confusing conversation. Plus, I can totally see you changing your mind about it.”

He grumbled some more but didn’t retort. Hat Kid wondered if that counted as winning an argument, but it was probably best not to say that while she had some momentum on her side. Snatcher closed the book he was currently reading, and he floated over to his shelf. He lifted his hand and swiped it downward in the air, and a shadowy fissure opened up to reveal a pocket dimension. He reached inside and pulled out a different book.

When he returned to the armchair, Hat Kid leaned over to get a better look at the new selection. “Ooh,” she murmured. It was a large, leather bound tome, with ornate decorations of various animals and trees and gold leaf etched into the cover. “What’s this?”

“A fairy tale collection,” Snatcher said as he opened it. The pages crinkled with a satisfying sound, and the text had been handwritten, with the occasional inked illustration. “Unless you prefer the histories.”

“No-o!” Hat Kid shook her head vigorously. She scooted over closer, ducking under his arm, so she could see the pictures. “This looks great!”

Snatcher smirked. “Heh, thought so.”

Hat Kid untucked her legs from under the dress and crawled her way onto his lap. Yes, she was definitely pushing it again, but he let her the last time, so she thought she might get lucky, and the incident with Vanessa earlier still had her shaken up. Sure enough, though he froze the entire time she got settled, Snatcher did not protest, so Hat Kid made herself comfortable.

“You done, kiddo?” he asked. “Or do you want to start building a house there too? Don’t answer that.”

Hat Kid just snickered, but held still and waited for him to start. He obliged.

“Once upon a time, in a far off country, there lived a merchant and his daughter…”

Snatcher began in a level tone, but as he spun a tale of a monster who lived in a castle and kept the merchant’s daughter prisoner, until the monster began to soften his heart towards her, Snatcher’s narration became more lilting and effusive. The ebb and flow of his pitch, in a way, kind of sounded like music. While Moonjumper’s voice had reminded her of clear water, Snatcher’s brought to mind a thunderstorm, rumbling steadily in the distance. Hat Kid rode the waves of the story, soothed by its rhythm as she fought not to fall asleep before the story was over.

Despite her efforts, Hat Kid awoke to the sensation of being gently lifted up. She cracked her eyes open just as Snatcher hoisted her up with one arm, tucking her against his shoulder like he had when he brought her back from the village and using his free hand to put the book away.

“Wait,” Hat Kid said, her voice coming out in a croak.

He went deadly still, as though he hadn't been expecting her to awaken. “Kid, you were literally asleep. Don’t even try to convince me you’re not tired.”

“No, I am, but. Um. Can I stay here?”

“What?”

“Please?”

“Where are you going to sleep?”

“I dunno. Wherever.”

“Wh-h?” he stuttered.

She snuggled into his cowl. “Here is fine,” she murmured, already feeling herself fading out again. It had been years since anyone had held her. After a while, she had been deemed “too old for it,” and she had gotten used to it, but now she was realizing how much she missed the affection.

“WH-H?? H-hey? What do you mean ‘here?’”

His protests kept her somewhat conscious, but only barely. She felt him heave a sigh.

“Ughh, you’re unbelievable.” He still didn’t put her down though, her foggy brain helpfully observed. Hat Kid smiled into his shoulder. He was granting her a lot of leeway right now, and she was going to ride that train as far as it would take her.

Eventually he did lower her, and she opened her eyes in dismay, only to realize he was putting her down on the seat of the chair and rummaging again in his pocket dimension, muttering to himself. He reemerged with a quilt that he shook out and tossed on top of her. Hat Kid closed her eyes again. That would have been fine, except Snatcher apparently wasn’t done as the blankets moved around her and she felt herself being wrapped up in them. She opened her eyes once more to see what he was doing and found herself in a blanket burrito, nestled at his side as he returned to his usual spot on the chair with the book he had been reading initially that evening. 

Snatcher glanced down at her. He had a strange expression on his face. It wasn’t complete annoyance like she’d expected. She couldn’t read it, especially not in her current state of lucidity. It looked almost...sad. Hat Kid couldn’t imagine why.

“What, you were just going to sleep in that dress?” he said when he caught her staring.

She faintly smiled and tried to laugh but only a tiny squeak came out. As her eyes fluttered shut, she felt the weight of a large hand settle down onto her shoulder, and Hat Kid finally drifted off to sleep.


	7. Point of no return

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You're gonna have a bad time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "How are you going to address the deaths in the Death Wishes?"  
> Me: by hurting everybody's feelings  
> Edit: sorry almost forgot, content warning for brief description of traumatic injury to character, temporary character death

Snatcher watched the kid zipping around the cliffs of an underwater dimension--one of those time rift things she mentioned before, but not one with somebody’s memories. Still, this one looked pretty hazardous, glistening red spines protruding from every rock and barely a place to rest. Hat Kid had already taken some nasty hits, but it wasn’t something he had never seen before over the course of the challenges. Those alien skulls were hard to crack.

“Your performance is pretty  _ abyss-mal _ this time around,” he said. “Get it? Abyss? Abysmal? AHAHAHAHAHA! I crack myself up.”

Hat Kid looked up at the sky with a flat expression before continuing her race against the clock. She faced a particularly tricky jump, one which would require some skilled acrobatics. Panting slightly, she paused to catch her breath and assess the challenge in front of her.

  
“Time’s a-ticking,” Snatcher said, miming looking at a watch. Not that she could see him.

Hat Kid grimaced at the reminder and took a running start before launching off the edge of the cliff. She fired her griphook and caught onto one of the urchins, swinging herself up toward her target ledge. A tricky jump but still routine for someone like her.

Except that the hook slipped from the spines of the urchin, disrupting her momentum. Hat Kid’s face registered shock as she realized what was happening. She plummeted, and Snatcher found his heart following as she snagged hard on an urchin far below. It caught her before she could disappear into the murk of the abyss below, but she hung limp on it and suddenly, the dimension collapsed as her memories dispersed.

The limbo that contained the challenges ejected both of them back out into Hat Kid’s bedroom. Snatcher barely had a moment to adjust to the harsh change in setting before seeing her unmoving form go flying out. He lunged forward, catching her in the air before she could hit the ground.

“Kid? Kid! Hey! You there? Hello? Come on!” He held her in his hand, and her head lolled off to the side. She still wasn’t moving. Snatcher pulled her closer to look at her better. She wasn’t breathing.

  
“Kid.” Reality washed over him like a creeping fog. She wasn’t breathing.

A fluttering feeling tickled his palm, and he jolted, cradling her in both hands now. Was she stirring? Another chill stabbed into him as he realized what he was feeling. Her soul, weakly pulsing, was pushing its way out.

_ This is what you’ve been waiting for, isn’t it, _ said a voice in the back of his head.  _ Well, go on. Take it. _

Dread flooded him at the thought. No. Not like this. This wasn’t how it was supposed to go. “Kiddo, come on,” he whispered, pulling her close to him. Something felt off. He looked down at her and saw his hand.

“Oh, no. No, no, no.” Bracing her against his chest with one arm, he held up his other hand, and then saw the rest of his form. Once again, he had shifted involuntarily into the form of the Prince. “Not now!” He couldn’t deal with this right now. Against him, the kid’s soul slithered farther out. “No! Wait!” Snatcher knelt down and laid her on the pillows, staining them red from the gash on her back. He reached out to where the glow of her soul was becoming increasingly visible and pushed back on it, trying to force it back inside. Pressure welled up behind his eyes as his vision started to blur with tears. “ _ Fuck! _ ”

_ Get it together, _ he thought, swiping at his eyes. There had to be something he could do. If he had more time...Time? Time! The time pieces! “Ahhh!” He stood up, frantically stutter-stepping toward the door to the flight deck and then back to Hat Kid. With one last glance at her, he sprinted out to the vault where she kept the time pieces. He phased straight through the door, grabbed one, and then shot back out to her bedroom, ignoring the furious beeping of her cleaning robot, which still hadn’t realized what happened to its friend.

Without another moment’s thought, Snatcher grabbed one of her hands in his and shattered the time piece against the floor. The world stopped. Snatcher tensed, suddenly aware of Time as a physical presence around him, like he had been dunked into cold water. But he could work with it, could reach out and shape it to his intention. Somehow, it seemed intuitive in that moment. He pulled the flow of it in a protective bubble around Hat Kid.  _ Slow it down, slow it down. Hang in there. _ As the broken time piece started to resolve itself and time started to flow normally again, the structures he managed to carve into it forced it to redirect away from her, leaving her in stasis.

He reached out and gently touched her chest where the soul had been trying to escape from. It no longer seemed to be struggling its way out with the same intensity. Snatcher reached down and lifted her up, hugging her close to him. He stepped into the shadows and fled back to Subcon.

They touched down in his lab, and as soon as he laid her down, he raced to his stash of potions. The knowledge that the stasis he made for her was only temporary jabbed cold spears of dread into him as he pulled out everything he had on healing. When the Mustache Girl had messed with the time pieces, the changes she made were possible to reverse when Hat Kid shut the rift down. He needed to make sure the kid would still be standing once the rift he was using closed too.

“Boss! What’s going on?” A cluster of minions had gathered when they noticed his sudden arrival. “Oh, whoa. Your form...you’re-”

“Yeah, yeah! I know! No time!” he snapped, flipping to the page he wanted in his recipe book. “Make yourself useful and get me these ingredients!” Snatcher slid the book over to them.

A couple of the minions crouched down by Hat Kid. “Newbie? Boss...what happened?”

“Shut up! Just work!” He couldn’t keep the shaking out of his voice. Snatcher sprinted across the lab, shoving things off the bench, not caring when some vials from his other projects shattered. The Subconites who had gone to fetch the requested ingredients hurried over and hoisted the materials onto the table. “Process those,” he commanded, pointing without turning his attention from the mixture he was already preparing.

They worked quickly and efficiently, spurred by his tangible desperation. In a smooth production line, the minions passed him the ingredients, and he mixed them into the concoction. As soon as the last piece finished incorporating, he teleported himself straight to the other side of the lab, pushing over the minions who had been tending to Hat Kid’s body. Snatcher turned her over, finding the deep gouge in her back that the spikes had inflicted. He poured part of the potion over the wound. Lavender smoke rose up from it, but as it cleared, the injury had already begun to close up. He faced her upright again and poured the rest of the potion into her mouth, tipping her head back to help it go down.

Snatcher set the empty beaker down and reached for threads of magic. He was used to removing and even replacing souls, thankfully. He knew how to do this. As her body repaired itself into a more stable housing for her soul, Snatcher used the magic threads to carefully rebind it to her. Its resistance tapered as he worked, and slowly he felt it settling back into place where it belonged.

When he finally finished, Snatcher held her in his lap a while longer, shaking despite being incorporeal. The minions sat in a circle around him, and once he relaxed and nodded at them, they all wilted with relief.

“Boss?”

“She’ll recover,” he said. Snatcher stared down at Hat Kid’s peaceful face. Because of the time stasis, she still wasn’t visibly breathing, but he could at least feel her life force again. Her soul no longer wanted to escape. The soul that he supposedly had been after for all this time. What had happened? Everything was all off. His priorities lay scattered like detritus after a storm. He couldn’t even shapeshift out of his shadow Prince form at the moment, his mind was in such disarray.

The time stasis shielding her was slowly receding back into the normal flow of time. Snatcher stood up, lifting Hat Kid and teleporting to her ship. When she woke up, she ought to be comfortable. In a gesture that was becoming increasingly familiar, he laid her in her bed and pulled the blanket over her. Snatcher sat down on the bed next to her, burying his face in his hands.

None of this had gone how he envisioned it. This was by far the worst of his self-sabotages, and the scariest part was that he didn’t regret it in the slightest. Even contemplating sending her back into that challenge, or any future ones for that matter, made him feel like he was de-atomizing from the inside out. Snatcher turned back to where Hat Kid lay. The motion of her prolonged inhalation was visible now, and a part of him unclenched at the sight of her breathing. Her brow was stitched together in pain now, but pain was good in contrast to the disturbing serenity from earlier. Pain meant alive.

Snatcher stared down miserably at his humanoid form. He focused on changing back, but those pesky emotions stifled every attempt. Despite being dead for centuries, at that very moment, Snatcher felt painfully, vulnerably human, and his form stubbornly reflected that. The one silver lining was that at least the kid already knew the whole Prince situation, saving him the redoubled injury of having to explain all of That, on top of everything that had just happened.

Best case scenario: she had no memory of what happened. Snatcher had no clue how the time pieces worked, but he wasn’t optimistic.  _ He _ still remembered the events of the world-encompassing time rift caused by the Mustache Girl. More likely scenario: The kid was going to have big questions, and he was not in the headspace to brainstorm any answers.

Obviously, the truth was the simplest option, but did he really want to tell her that she had  _ died _ for a few minutes and been resuscitated? He clenched his jaw at the notion, feeling raw even imagining the conversation. But then there was the matter of whether she would want to continue the contracts on her end. Could he stop her from doing them without telling her the truth? And if he did stop her, where would they go from there? Would she even stick around?

“Shut up, shut up,” he groaned, banging his palms into his forehead repeatedly. He really could not deal with this right now. Snatcher hadn’t felt this bewildered since  _ that day _ . Not when he’d first become a spirit, not when the Moonfreak had told him that they were his old corpse, no,  _ this _ was the one moment that whiplashed his entire worldview the same way Vanessa had when she turned on him.

A soft hiss of breath escaping yanked him from his thoughts, and he whirled around to Hat Kid. Time was normalizing. Her breathing was still slow, but becoming rhythmic now. Snatcher reached a hand out to her but hesitated before he could actually touch her, fingers curling into themselves. He pulled back.  _ You don’t deserve that, _ the treacherous voice in his head whispered.

“Who’s side are you on anyway?” Snatcher muttered, opting to smooth out the blankets instead. He had no way of knowing how long she would sleep, but until she awoke again, he was loath to leave her to potentially wake up alone, confused, and in pain. Snatcher stood up and paced about the bedroom. His eyes alighted on her drawing pile again, and he shuffled through it to pick up the one of them reading together. Snatcher took it back with him to the bed, holding it as he sat back down.

That dangerous  _ hope  _ reared up inside him again, and this time he looked it in the face. Was it even possible? To actually have something he once wanted a long time ago? Or was he just setting himself up to get hurt again? Snatcher didn’t even know what the kid wanted from her future, after all of whatever this was had blown over. For all he knew, she would eventually get tired of being there and return to her homeworld as quickly as she had come. Even though her memories clearly indicated she wasn’t happy there, perhaps she still had the hope that she could get the validation and affection she wanted there, if only she took the right steps. And if she did, where would that leave Snatcher?

But then there were these damn drawings. Hope, it seemed, was a dangerous indulgence for them both.

The bedroom doors hissed open and the little robot trundled into the room. It blinked at him with inquisitive pink eyes and then turned toward its friend on the bed. The robot beeped a question at Snatcher.

“Kid got a bit hurt earlier. She-She’ll be fine.” Great, he was talking to a vacuum cleaner.

It fired out a series of chirps and beeps and whirs, then rolled toward him and headbutted his feet.

It couldn’t actually harm him, but Snatcher still yanked his legs up out of reach. “What the-Hey! You’re acting like it’s my fault!” He subsided, lowering his feet back down with a sigh. “You’re right though.”

“Urgh, Rumbi?”

Both the robot and Snatcher turned to Hat Kid who was shifting in the bed and rubbing her eyes. She squinted at him for several seconds, looking his new form up and down with a befuddled expression that would have been adorable in better circumstances. “S-Snatcher? Is that you?”

“Hey, kiddo. It’s me,” Snatcher said softly.

Hat Kid squirmed some more and twisted a bit, trying to feel her back. “That hurts,” she said, grimacing as the twisting motion seemed to cause a spasm of pain. Snatcher reached toward her instinctively at that.

“Ahh, careful, kiddo. You had a...a nasty fall. Just take it easy.”

To his relief, she did settle back down. “Why do you look like that?”

Right. Questions. “Um, well, sometimes it’s just more convenient to take a different shape. I’ve done it before, you’ve seen me.”

Hat Kid nodded like she was floating in molasses. At the same sedate pace, she appeared to come to a realization. “Did I win? I feel like I didn’t win, but I’m still like, alive.”

Well, Snatcher? What’s your game plan? “You just made it!” he said, forcing extra pep into his voice. “Got pretty hurt at the end of it though. A real doozy, that one. You sure like to live on the edge.” Lying it is!

“Must be. I feel like death,” Hat Kid said. She was speaking with her eyes mostly closed, so didn’t have a chance to notice Snatcher going very still. “Did you bring me back here?”

“Yup,” he said, slightly strangled.

“Thanks.”

“Don’t mention it.” He waited for her to say something else, but she just sat there, hands resting over the blanket and squinted off into space. “Uh, maybe you should get some more sleep, kid.”

“Mm,” she said, plunking back down into a lying position. She draped an arm across her face. “Hungry.”

“Oh. Uh, right.” Damn it, he hadn’t thought of that. Not like she could actually get her own food in her current state. “I...I’ll be right back.”

Snatcher wandered down the halls of the ship, retracing the route he had taken when he discovered her failed popcorn attempt. Hopefully that was where she kept her stores of food. The room was a mess, just like the last time he had visited it, though the extent of the disaster was more evident now that it wasn’t obscured by smoke. Still, there were cabinets with various containers that appeared to contain sustenance. He picked one up.

If there were instructions, Snatcher had no way of knowing. Everything was in that alien text of hers. He looked at the metal box she had been cooking the popcorn in before. It couldn’t be too hard, could it?

The container exploded in the cooking box. It wasn’t smoking, and technically the food was hot. It was just all over. Snatcher reached in and attempted to salvage the wreckage. At least he couldn’t burn himself on it. He managed to scrape out a modest remainder of the original meal into a bowl he had scrounged up. It took another several minutes to locate a utensil, and finally he was satisfied that it was at least edible.

Hat Kid was dozing by the time Snatcher returned. He sat back down on the bed at her side. “Hey kid, you still hungry?”

She stirred, pulling her arm off her face and examined the proffered meal with a laugh. “Wow, what happened?”

“I don’t know how to use your weird contraptions! It exploded. Seems like it’s still fine though.”

Hat Kid giggled, taking the bowl. “Good thing I’m really hungry.” Still addled by fatigue, she dropped the spoon several times during the process of eating, but managed to gradually get through the dish. “You could just ask me how to use the microwave next time.”

“Based on the last time I saw you use it, I’m not sure how that would improve our situation,” Snatcher said.

“Hey! Popcorn is tricky. One second, nothing. Next second, fire!”

“Oh my mistake, I had no idea it was such a delicate art.”

“Are you being sarcastic?”

“Me? Never.”

“Right, you would never say it was your mistake.”

Snatcher wheezed. “You know me too well, kiddo!” Seeing her more alert and in good humor had him feeling more like himself. Seizing onto the fragment of control that gave him, he pushed on the limits of his form and shifted back into the looser spectral form he preferred. “Ah, that’s better.”

It did make it harder to sit on the bed with her, but he was already pushing the limit of how much he could do that before she started to get suspicious of him. He counted himself lucky that she was still rather out of it. The kid already teased him enough as it was about whether he was starting to show signs that he cared. Trouble was, that sort of thing was starting to come so naturally to him when she was involved, he frequently failed to catch himself before doing it. For crying out loud, he made her dinner. Or tried to anyway. Well, he fed her.

Hat Kid set the bowl off to the side and yawned, snuggling back down into the covers. She noticed him watching her and gave a small smile before her eyelids drooped steadily downward, and she drifted off. After the day she had, the kid would probably be out for hours. Snatcher still couldn’t bring himself to leave her yet, though. Despite being up in space, outsiders could and did barge in at alarming frequency, and unlike Hat Kid, Snatcher had no way of hearing the intruder alert. Normally, she could handle herself, but in her still vulnerable state, Snatcher didn’t want to leave it to chance.

Maybe he would pop down for half a moment to grab a book to occupy him. That ought to be fine, just for a few seconds. He warped back to Subcon, reappearing in his home.

“Snatcher.”

He whipped around to the source of the voice. Moonjumper was sitting in his chair, hands steepled in front of them.

“What the hell are you doing in my house?” Snatcher said, instantly powering up his magic. Hat Kid didn’t like them to fight, but, well, she wasn’t here.

“What the hell happened to my friend?” Moonjumper shot back. Their voice had an edge to it that Snatcher had never heard before, even when he had been at his most aggressive with them.

“What are you talking about?”

They slammed their hand on the arm of the chair. “The child! I saw you carrying her away earlier! What happened?”

Snatcher bristled. “None of your business.”

Moonjumper flew off the chair and blocked his path. Snatcher tried to swipe at them, but a red cord shot out from their hand and wrapped around his wrist. Sensation instantly vanished from Snatcher’s forearm, making him freeze in shock. “It became my business when my friend got hurt on your watch! So I’ll ask again,  _ what happened? _ ” Moonjumper stared at him before slowly releasing the tension in the thread around his wrist. Control flooded back into Snatcher’s arm, but the terrible imprint of losing control of a part of himself remained and kept him rigidly in place.

The ticking of the clock was the only sound in the room, and it reminded Snatcher that he had only intended to be here for a few seconds.

“I’m sorry,” Moonjumper said, drifting back to a less confrontational distance. “But right now, this isn’t about us. Someone I care about very much was hurt, possibly very badly. Someone I think you care about too. I need to know if she’s alright.”

As much as it pained Snatcher to have to back down against Moonjumper, the longer he stalled, the more time Hat Kid was alone. Not to mention, the realization that if Moonjumper had ever wanted to retaliate against him the fight would have been very quick made Snatcher think twice about trying any harder to drive them away. They clearly meant business now more than ever.

“Yeah, she’s alright.” Somehow, it didn’t seem prudent at this time to inform them that Hat Kid had actually died. While doing his contract.

Moonjumper visibly relaxed. “Thank goodness. She’s on her ship, I take it?”

“Yeah.” 

“May I see her?” Moonjumper asked, after Snatcher failed to prompt further conversation.

“What? No!”

“Snatcher. Really. Grow up.”

“She’s sleeping! I’m not about to spend alone time in close proximity with you.”

“It’s not like we need to chat.”

“I’ll know you’re there, and that will be annoying enough.”

Moonjumper folded their arms, drumming their fingers. “You know you have no right to keep me from checking on her. I was only asking as a courtesy. I could just make my way up there myself.”

“Ugh! Fine! I’ll take you to the stupid ship.” Snatcher grabbed Moonjumper by the arm with one hand, the first book he could reach from his shelf with the other, and teleported them up to the ship.

When they arrived, both of them hovered over Hat Kid who was still sleeping peacefully. Snatcher shot Moonjumper a nasty look but kept quiet. He wasn’t sure he could keep his voice down if they started going at it again. He floated over to his usual reading corner. As he opened his book, he looked up at the soft crooning from Moonjumper. They had picked up the drawing of Snatcher and Hat Kid that he had left on the bed.

“Oh, this is so sweet.” Moonjumper sported a downright saccharine smile as they admired the artwork.

“Quiet in the peanut gallery. I swear I don’t want to hear another word from you,” Snatcher said.

Moonjumper gave him an exasperated look but kept blessedly silent. Snatcher watched them look around out of the corner of his eyes and noticed when they found the rest of the drawing stack.

“Okay, I’m sorry, I can’t hold it in,” said Moonjumper. They’d found Hat Kid’s art that featured them. “So cute!” They hugged the drawing to their chest, practically radiating little hearts around them.

“Blegh,” Snatcher said under his breath. He lifted the book up higher to block more of his view. The time passed in silence for a while. Moonjumper had gone to stand a vigil at the side of Hat Kid’s bed. Snatcher lowered the book again to peek to see them gently brushing the hair from her face and smoothing out the blanket. Seeing their easy affection twisted his insides far worse than Moonjumper hijacking his arm had. The Prince would have had no trouble expressing that care for her. The Prince would have bared his heart by now. Look where that had got him. Yet in a way, through Moonjumper, the Prince got to have that--that thing that Snatcher had deemed too fragile and dangerous to even contemplate.

“You know,” Moonjumper said quietly, “you never answered my original question.” They had left Hat Kid’s bedside and approached from a respectful distance. “What happened?”

Snatcher’s claws tightened slightly on the book. In spite of all his snapping, he dreaded admitting to Moonjumper that she was hurt because of him. Moonjumper seemed to read well into his silence because they narrowed their eyes.

“Snatcher, what happened?” Their tone flattened. Snatcher couldn’t dodge this forever.

“She was doing a contract for me,” he said finally.

“Ah, one of those challenges she’s been talking about?”

“...Yeah.”

“You mean to say after all this time, you’re still giving her dangerous work to do?” they asked, incredulous.

“I mean, the goal is to get her soul, you do realize? They’re supposed to be dangerous.”

“That’s a lie and we both know it,” they hissed with such force that Snatcher had to meet their eyes. “I only saw you with her for a second but I could see the fear in you! You even reverted to a form you have nothing but resentment for in the midst of it. What do you have to gain by so stubbornly clinging to this illusion you’ve made for yourself?”

Snatcher’s instinct was to fight. His own corpse was passing judgment on him, and he seethed at it, but they had backed him into a corner, and quite frankly, deep down Snatcher was growing weary of resisting it. But to face the truth of what they were saying? You might as well lock him up in the cellar again for all the amount of sheer terror it invoked.

Moonjumper softened. “I know you’ve established very clearly that I am not and have never been you. But can I convince you to believe that I  _ understand _ why you hesitate to show that you care about someone? But she can’t hurt you, Snatcher! What do you have to lose?”

“She can,” he said in a ragged voice. He let the book slide out of his hands and onto his lap. “She can leave. She doesn’t...She doesn’t need to be here. She doesn’t need…” He stopped. He couldn’t say it.

“Oh,” Moonjumper breathed, comprehending his meaning.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” Snatcher said. They both turned toward Hat Kid.

“She doesn’t need to stay. But maybe she wants to.” Moonjumper gave him a stern look. “She won’t if you keep giving her reasons not to.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do, exactly? I don’t hand out cake and flowers. You might have retained all of my old self’s nicey-nice garbage, but that’s not me and it hasn’t been for a while.”

“You know perfectly well what you need to do. If you didn’t, you wouldn’t even be here, watching over her all night. You’re just afraid of the consequences,” said Moonjumper.

Snatcher sighed, slumping his chin into his hand. “I really hate you, you know that?”

“Yes, my friend, I know.”

“Ugh, don’t even call me that sarcastically.”

As Snatcher predicted, the kid had been wiped out, giving him hours to stew over his conversation with Moonjumper before she woke up. When she finally stirred, both spirits jolted to attention and zoomed to either side of the bed.

Hat Kid turned to the left and then to the right, puzzled. “You’re both here? At the same time?” She narrowed her eyes, which given her still-drowsy state, practically looked closed. “You didn’t have a battle in my ship did you?”

“Heh, don’t get me wrong, kiddo, I was tempted,” Snatcher said. “But no, they wanted to see you and I let them because I’m just so nice.”

Hat Kid gave him the most skeptical expression he had ever seen her make. She looked at Moonjumper. “What actually happened?”

“Really? No faith! You wound me, kid.” Snatcher clutched at his heart. She giggled at him.

“No, it’s true,” said Moonjumper. “Snatcher very graciously brought me here to see you.”

The two of them shot each other a look over Hat Kid’s head, Moonjumper’s pointed, and Snatcher’s irate.

“Yeah, I’m sure that’s how it went,” Hat Kid said, smirking up at them. She reached out and took their hand in each of hers. “I love when my friends get along. We can all hang out together now.”

Snatcher instinctively yanked his hand back. “Yuck, no one said anything about me getting along with that weirdo.” When she pouted at his withdrawal, Snatcher slid his hand back toward hers, allowing her to take it again, but he refused to make further eye contact with either of them.

She let them go not long after. Hat Kid lifted her hands above her head in a great stretch and yawned, but cut the yawn short with a flinch. Her arm shot around to feel her back. “Peck, that still hurts. How bad was it?” She pushed the blanket off and made to check in the mirror.

Snatcher pushed her back. “Wait, kid, let me see first.” He leaned her forward so he could have a better view of the injury. She hadn’t had the chance to change into a new set of clothes, so the wound was still visible through the tear in her cloak. It had ruined the cape as well. His potion had done most of the heavy lifting in terms of shallowing the originally very deep gash, but blood still stained everything and a thin remnant of the cut could still be seen. He would need to follow up with another treatment.

He heard a small intake of breath from Moonjumper. “Oh goodness. Snatcher,” they said, brow furrowed at him. Snatcher restrained a sigh. They were going to have another go at him once the kid was out of earshot, weren’t they?

“What? What? How bad is it?” Hat Kid asked. “Is it gonna leave a cool scar?”

Snatcher cringed at her childlike optimism. Well, it was better than trauma at least. “It’ll scar alright,” he said. “Don’t think anything cool would apply to you though.”

She stuck her tongue out at him and squirmed out of his grip to run over to her mirror. She craned her head to look over her shoulder. “Oh  _ peck! _ That’s...whoa that’s really bloody. And my clothes! They’re ruined!”

“That’s fixable, believe me, kid. I need to make you another dose of regeneration potion for the rest of it.”

“Yes, what matters is that you focus on getting healthy again,” Moonjumper chimed in.

“I feel alright,” Hat Kid said. “It’s not like I’ve never been hurt before.” She smiled at them both. “It’s nice to actually have company while I get better.”

Oof. Snatcher’s brain helpfully supplied him with the image of an injured Hat Kid, struggling to apply her own first aid with nothing but the moral support of an armless robot.

“Even so, you shouldn’t strain yourself,” Moonjumper told her. “And you certainly shouldn’t be doing any of those challenges for a while.” They side-eyed Snatcher at that.

“Yeah, probably not,” Hat Kid said. She glanced at Snatcher, as if expecting his disapproval.

“Well, I need to work on making you that potion,” Snatcher said, changing the subject. His shoulders slumped when a realization hit him. “As much as I can’t stand the idea, Moonface, you can keep the kid company for a bit while I’m out.”

Hat Kid’s face lit up upon learning they weren’t both leaving her at once. “Ooh yay!” She gave Moonjumper a quick hug, summoning a spear of jealousy in Snatcher. “Okay, I want to change, so privacy please!” She pushed Moonjumper toward Snatcher and both of them toward the door.

The two spirits complied and left to the flight deck. “This shouldn’t take too long,” Snatcher grumbled, not making eye-contact. “No funny business.”

“You’re the one who’s being funny, you know,” Moonjumper said.

“I don’t need your input!”

“Then pull yourself together. Remember, I’m not saying all of this for  _ my _ benefit. If it just involved you, I would leave you perfectly alone to have your existential crisis!”

“Just shut up!” Before he could invite further response, Snatcher teleported back to his lab in Subcon. “Stupid,” he muttered to himself as he gathered up the materials he needed to make another potion.

Moonjumper claimed to have the Prince’s memories, including the trauma of Vanessa’s betrayal. How could they be so seemingly at ease with that? Something had to be wrong with their head. Snatcher had put in centuries of work to remake himself, to be someone who could never be threatened that way again, who could crush everyone who tried. Meanwhile, Moonjumper came along and seemed to just accept it? Like some schmuck setting themself up to get hurt again? Easy enough for someone like that to hand out affection freely with nothing to lose.

Snatcher’s hands worked on their own, running through the same motions of brewing the same potion from the day before, allowing his mind to continue its own brewing. At this point, it was impossible to deny that, yes, fine, Snatcher did care about the kid,  _ somehow _ . The problem with caring was that you were handing over the keys to your city to someone who could literally do whatever they wanted with it. Sure, the kid couldn’t hurt him the way Vanessa had. But she could still absolutely crush him in a way that counted. Hell, she almost had done yesterday!

He finished the potion and held it up in front of himself with a resigned expression. Yesterday. Was it yesterday already? What yesterday had done was show him that he couldn’t suppress it, no matter how hard he tried. Their previous arguments had shown quite clearly that Hat Kid had no trouble just walking away if he pushed her too hard. There was a time when he wanted nothing more than for her to get out of his hair for good, but she had latched on instead, and now detaching her would be too painful. That little leech.

Snatcher teleported back to the ship. He stopped right before the bedroom door, bracing himself. The muffled laughter of Hat Kid and Moonjumper’s voice filtered through the wall. Snatcher phased through the door.

“Snatcher! You’re back!” Hat Kid said. They were sitting in front of a screen. Moonjumper was holding onto some plastic device, madly pressing the buttons on it as a character on the screen jumped around. “We’re playing video games”

“Those words have literally no meaning to me,” Snatcher said, brandishing the potion. “C’mere kiddo, time for your medicine.”

“Eww gross.” She held up the vial to the light and then stuck her tongue at it.

“Don’t give me that. You want to be back in shape, then quit whining and bottoms up,” Snatcher said, crossing his arms.

Moonjumper had paused the game and was watching them with restrained laughter. Snatcher caught their attention and jerked a finger across his throat. That only seemed to amuse them more, but they made a show of pretending not to eavesdrop.

Hat Kid unstoppered the bottle, sniffed it, and then chugged it. Her face wrinkled up. “Blegh, I told you it was gross.”

“Yeah, yeah, you’ll thank me later.” Snatcher pointed at Moonjumper. “You, shift’s up. Time to get lost.”

Hat Kid tugged on Snatcher’s hand. “Aww, can’t they stay?” 

Snatcher pressed his hand into his forehead. “Ugh, listen, kid, I’ve really had it up to here over the last day. Can I please get a moment’s peace?”

She continued to make doe eyes up at him.

“You can hang out with them as much as you want  _ when you’re better _ , so the sooner you get to bed and let the potion do its work, the sooner that can be. Happy?”

“Snatcher is right, my friend. I’m sure I will only distract you. Get some rest and I will see you soon,” said Moonjumper as they rose, patting her. They tipped their head to Snatcher. “I can make my own way back down, not to worry.”

“Believe me, I wasn’t.”

Their collective assurances appeased Hat Kid enough to make her settle down, and Moonjumper floated out into the hall to the ship’s exit.

“Are you staying?” Hat Kid asked. She was still hanging onto his hand, and it occurred to him how tiny she was. Yeah, a tough-as-nails go-getter but...just a little kid.

“Yeah, I’ll be here,” Snatcher said softly.

“Can you read?”

“I am literate, yes.”

She let go of his hand to smack him. “I meant can you read to me, peck-neck.”

“Language, kiddo. You really picked up a bad habit from those birds. Nothing but peck this and peck that these days.” He nudged her over to the bed.

“O-kaay,  _ dad _ .” She flopped into bed and pulled the blanket on, shuffling over to one side to make room for Snatcher.

Dad. He was lucky he was facing away from her to fetch his book when she said it because his expression froze. It was the second time she’d referred to him like that, despite both those times being sarcasm. Snatcher retrieved the book and settled down next to her on the bed. It was a bit of an awkward fit for his body shape, but he managed to get somewhat comfortable.

As she had before, Hat Kid shuffled up close to lean against him and get a better view of the book. Snatcher paused before starting to read. Was this really happening? Was it possible? After nearly 300 years of making himself untouchable, could he really ever again have something like…

Hat Kid shifted to give him a questioning look. Snatcher gave her a faint smile, and then turned to the open book and began to read.

  
_...like family? _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just wait till he goes full marshmallow.


	8. Quality time with Snatcher

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hat Kid stresses about the good times ending. Good things always do, after all.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi everyone! Love the responses to the last chapter. It was one of the most fun to write. Here's something a little shorter and sweeter as a reprieve. Heh. You're gonna need it.  
> Speaking of which, important schedule announcement:  
> Next update will be a double header, so chapters 9 and 10 will release on the same day next Friday. After that, I will be taking 2 weeks hiatus, so chapter 11 will drop on July 23rd. I thought for a while about whether to take a second week off, and I think it's for the best, based on how my buffer is looking and how much other priorities I have on my plate. I think 2 weeks now will make it so that we can continue through to the end without a hitch. But believe me, 9 and 10 will give you a Lot to chew on, 13k words to be specific. I'm looking forward to hearing your thoughts!

Hat Kid sat on the supersized lab bench, dangling her legs off the edge as Snatcher fiddled around with the various solutions. If he talked about how her timey-wimey stuff was a bunch of nonsense, then this potion-mixing was equally out of _her_ orbit. There were wide-bottomed glass jars filled with stuff. There were tall skinny glass jars filled with other stuff. And he was mixing them all together, dripping in a small bit of skinny jar into wide jar, and then the stuff changed colors when he dripped enough of it. How was that not more nonsense than time mechanics? Those had to follow _laws._ Shouldn’t he like that?

“I don’t need another potion, Snatcher,” she whined. “I’m getting better fine on my own, and they taste gross.” Actually, she was practically in top form again. But ever since her bad injury, they had put the Death Wishes on hold until she got better, and both Snatcher and Moonjumper had been showering her with unprecedented levels of attention, so maaaybe Hat Kid was milking it a little bit. Moonjumper was not so surprising. They would fuss when she got a papercut, to the point she would tease them about it. Like she wasn’t fragile. Snatcher though...he had been acting really different again, but this time, not in a bad way. Hat Kid kept a lid on it though, remembering how sensitive he’d gotten the last time she had accused him of acting odd.

“A little gross won’t kill you,” Snatcher said, then immediately cringed at himself. See? Odd.

“Yeah, but if I don’t need it then why have it?”

He shook his head, though his focus was still honed in on dripping even more stuff into the potion. “It’ll make you better faster, don’t you want that? You’re still complaining about back pain.”

Oh, yeah, that. Total lie. Her back hadn’t hurt since her second potion dose, but every time she would make a flinching motion, Snatcher would immediately snap to attention. She was careful not to abuse it, of course, but it would be a lie if she said it wasn’t a little satisfying to be able to command his attention so easily. Her time with it was running out quickly, though, especially after a third potion. And then no doubt the challenges would resume again. Not that she minded doing them necessarily. They were still pretty fun, though getting harder, but she was well over two-thirds finished, and if she completed them all, what then? Or what if she finally lost? At least right now, in this pleasant limbo, she and Snatcher could really just hang out, and Hat Kid was finding she liked that a lot better. If she finished the Death Wishes, would he get fed up and just try to take her soul by force? Did he still want her soul? Or would he make her leave like the first time?

“There, finished.” Snatcher straightened up, holding the potion up to the light. He reached over to hand it to her.

Hat Kid vaulted off the table away from it. “No! Gross!”

“Hey, what the-get back here and take your medicine!”

She switched to her sprint hat and fired her gripshot hook to swing herself over the cauldron in the center of the lab. Snatcher growled and sank into the floor, shooting up in front of her on the other side.

“Are you done?” he asked.

“Nope!” Sprint was no good against ghosts. She switched to the time stop and slowed time enough to escape back to the other side again and hide behind a shelf. Time reverted.

“Kid! KID! I swear!” Her hiding spot was obvious, and he found her with ease, only for her to slip away again, dissolving into giggles as the wild goose chase evolved. Well accustomed to playing keep-away with the Subconites, she sidestepped his attempts to nab her with ease, disrupting time whenever he got too close.

As she ran circles around the lab, Snatcher burst out of the ground to cut her off again, and Hat Kid veered sharply to avoid him, but ended up ramming straight into the leg of one of the tables. It shook, and several vials of other ingredients toppled off the edge and shattered on the floor, splattering their contents everywhere.

“Uh-oh,” Hat Kid said, rubbing her face where she had run into the table.

“Kid? You alright?” Snatcher materialized next to her and was checking her over. That wasn’t the reaction she was expecting.

Hat Kid nodded with a grimace. Guess she was caught.

Snatcher hovered over her, inspecting the spot on her head that she’d smacked on the table. “Well, this wouldn’t have been a problem if you took the dang potion in the first place!” He poked her forehead and held the vial out to her again, and this time she took it without further protest.

She scrunched her face up at it again before downing the hatch. The bitter, metallic flavor burned its way down her throat and seared in her belly for a few unpleasant seconds. Soon the warmth snaked its way through her entire body, making her shudder in discomfort. A wave of rejuvenation surged through her as the warmth faded, leaving a tingling echo under her skin. She did feel better, but at what cost? She smacked her lips. “Ughh, hate that.” Hat Kid looked past him to the mess she’d made. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to break it.”

“Hm?” Snatcher glanced at the broken ingredients and then back to her sheepish posture. “Oh, that?” He reached up to another pile of materials that had survived her initial bump and swiped them off the table. They crashed to the floor right next to her original spill. “Whoops!” Hat Kid stared at him, mouth dropping open. Snatcher smirked, and a mischievous smile spread across her face in response.

She leaped to her feet, switching back to the sprint hat and dove for another table, pushing all the books off of it. The popping sounds of dozens of premade potions appearing out of thin air filled her ears. Hat Kid looked over her shoulder and saw a steady rainfall of them crashing down behind her. She vaulted from table to table, and Snatcher chased her with his “attacks.” It was just like their first battle, except this time, Hat Kid was not oblivious to the fact that the attacks always seemed to be a careful step behind her.

The ground was covered in spilled potions and detritus, the chemical reactions between them creating smoke and foam. Hat Kid swung herself across the lab again, just as a slew of Subconites streamed over the walls of the lab, apparently drawn to the sounds of hijinks.

“Yes! Capture the miscreant!” Snatcher shouted as the minions entered the fray.

Hat Kid shrieked with laughter as the frantic game of tag she was so familiar with began. As she wove between the pursuing minions, Snatcher increased the difficulty by bursting from the floor, shaking the ground to trip her up. They had done a more dangerous version of this in their battle too, and Hat Kid knew the timing of it well. 

He continued to drop the potions sporadically, but their aim was so distant that after a while she didn’t even have to make an effort to avoid them, and all they did was provide an explosion of color and smoke and percussive sound effects. One bottle hadn’t broken, and with a sly smile, Hat Kid sprinted toward it, nabbing it as she passed. She lobbed it back at him, and in a familiar display, it burst open on him, showering him with the multi-colored contents.

Snatcher paused, looking himself over. “Oh, you little-Again?” He lunged after her, and the Subconites scattered and cackled as the chase continued.

As he shook the ground again, she landed awkwardly and stumbled a bit, giving him just enough time to grab her. He dangled her upside-down by the boot. “Gotcha, kiddo,” he said, grinning.

Hat Kid laughed breathlessly as she waved her arms around. With a twist of her leg, she slipped out of his grip and, kicking off his hand, launched herself straight at him and latched onto his mane, wrapping her arms as far around his neck as she could. “No, I got you!”

“Oof.” Snatcher reeled back as she impacted him. Hat Kid clung onto him as he righted himself again. “Uh, heh, yep, sure did, kiddo.” He gave her a couple stilted pats on the back.

There it was again. Hat Kid was certain that only a week ago, he would have plucked her off by the scruff and tossed her back on the floor by now. She was basically hugging Snatcher, and he was kind of just...allowing it. She scrabbled her way up and clambered onto his shoulder instead.

“Ow, hey! What are you doing?”

“Your big head is too hard to hold onto,” Hat Kid said. She still had her arms wrapped around him for balance, nestling herself in his mane.

“Maybe your arms are just too short.” Her repositioning seemed to be more comfortable for them both though, as he started to move more freely again. Snatcher’s head swiveled back and forth as he surveyed the destruction the two of them had wrought with the help of the minions who were now all clustered around them. “What a mess you made.”

“Me? Most of that stuff was from you!” She couldn’t materialize things out of thin air after all.

“Yeah, but you started it,” said Snatcher.

“I’m pretty sure you started it. The first thing I did was an accident. You made a mess on purpose.”

“Eh, details, details.” Snatcher swept his hands about, and as he did, the potions and shattered glass on the floor floated up and disappeared into little vortexes. He made his way around the lab in this manner, either vacuuming up what was broken and spilled or floating things back into their proper places. The minions followed him around in a little gaggle, somewhat ineffectively straightening things out that he’d already replaced. Hat Kid rode on Snatcher’s shoulder the entire time.

“Aren’t you supposed to care about details when you’re a lawyer?” she said.

“Details only matter when they benefit me. Didn’t you know that?”

“That doesn’t seem right.”  
  


“Hey, who went to law school? You or me? I’m the expert here.” Snatcher finished up tidying the lab, though Hat Kid realized he himself was still covered in the colorful spatter of the potion she’d dumped on him. He shrugged the shoulder that Hat Kid was sitting on. “Well, kid, guess you were right about healing up. You sure had enough energy to give me the run around just to avoid taking one last potion.”

“Haha...yeah, told you,” Hat Kid said, forcing her voice to remain neutral. Peck. She’d played herself trying to get out of drinking her medicine. Now there was no question that she was physically ready to get back into the usual swing of things. Time to wave this nice intermission goodbye.

Snatcher didn’t go on to bring up the contracts yet, which surprised her a little, considering in the past how he would constantly pester her about whether she was going to start another one or not. Well, if he wasn’t going to bring them up, she sure wasn’t about to either. He was currently busying himself with some other experiment, and though she had no comprehension of what he was doing, Hat Kid was content to peer over and watch from her excellent vantage point.

“What’cha making?” she asked, after her attempts to parse his methodology came up with nothing.

“I have to replace the stuff you broke somehow, kiddo.”

“I said that was your fault!” Hat Kid said.

“And I said you started it.” He chuckled when he heard her blow a raspberry in response.

“You didn’t answer my question!”

“This is a power-up potion. It enhances physical and magical abilities temporarily, but use with caution! Side effects include headaches, nausea, vomiting, completely losing your cool, and also death.” He turned in her direction a little, and she caught a side view of his cheeky grin.

“That sounds terrible! More like poison. What were you really giving me, huh?”

“Well, it’s fine if I take it. None of those side effects are a problem for me. And yours was different. It helped you, didn’t it?”

“Yeah, for now. But if I suddenly drop dead for no reason, I’m blaming you.” She said it as a joke, but Snatcher tensed. It confused her. Usually he found death humor amusing. “Snatcher? Are you okay?”

“Hm? Yeah, kid, why wouldn’t I be?” He relaxed slightly, but failed to diffuse her skepticism. She opted not to push it.

“Okay, nevermind.”

“Ookay.” He was silent for a while, continuing to divvy up the batch of his weird poison potion into separate beakers.

Based on experience, it seemed like whenever Snatcher had something “on his mind” as he liked to say, he would become more distracted and go quiet more often. By deduction, he must have been occupied with something again lately. Hat Kid wished she could ask him what it was, but didn’t want to risk making him irritated with her, especially when the last several days with him had been so pleasant. She couldn’t even ask Moonjumper because, as well as they understood Snatcher’s perspective, they still weren’t a mind reader and could only guess what he was thinking, same as her. She didn’t want guesses. She wanted to _know._

The idea of putting off the Death Wishes made her nervous too. Sure, she could make up some excuses, but those would run out fast, and eventually she would either have to openly defy him or bite the bullet and resume. Then they would be well on track to finishing. That thought sat in the pit of her stomach. Hat Kid didn’t want time to run out, not when she didn’t know what was going to happen next, and even trying to think about it made her stomach turn even worse. Sitting there on his shoulder and leaning against him while he fussed with his baffling chemistry was a moment she wanted to bubble up in a time rift and preserve to go back and visit whenever she wanted. Things were comfortable this way, more comfortable than she ever remembered being.

“What do you need power-up potions for anyway?” she asked, breaking the silence.

“Heh, that a trick question or something?”

“No! Why would _you_ need to power up? Who’s gonna be fighting you where you need to be even stronger?”

“Well I know a little alien pest who invaded my forest and beat me up. What a bully.”

Hat Kid giggled, but there was a nervous edge to it. “What, are you thinking of a rematch?” She said it as a joke, but part of her was testing the waters. Would he fight her again? If it was just playing like today, that was fine and fun too, but she didn’t really want to go at it again for real.

“Oh yeah, I need to get even with her. She must think she’s such a big shot, coming in here, knocking all my stuff over and calling my head big.”

Hmm, he was probably being sarcastic? “It is big.”

“No, you’re just a shrimp.”

“Hey, you’re still covered in the potion. I could whack you right now.”

He jostled her on his shoulder. “See, such a bully.” He clicked his tongue.

“I’m just kidding,” Hat Kid said. She hugged his mane tighter, snuggling further into the crook of his neck. She couldn’t tell if it was a conscious gesture or if he was just adjusting his posture, but it _felt_ like Snatcher nuzzled her back. Hat Kid pursed her lips. Was she imagining things?

Eventually, Snatcher finished separating the potions and zapped all of them up into wherever it was he kept them. “Heading back, kid. Hang on.” The shadows closed around them, and he transported them both back to the hollow.

The first few days after her injury, Snatcher and Moonjumper alternated visiting her in the ship, until she got stir crazy and demanded to resume their usual routine, though both of them insisted she still take it easy, which had limited Subconite play time in the village. Normally, Snatcher would read to her until she fell asleep, but that would leave her no time to figure out what to do about the Death Wishes. Anxiety stirred in her chest, and Hat Kid made a split second decision.

As they arrived in the hollow, Hat Kid slid down his shoulder to the floor. “I think I’m going to head up early tonight.”

Snatcher had just summoned a book, but hesitated when she spoke. “Already, kid? Usually you stick around till late.” 

“Yeah, I just remembered there’s some stuff I wanted to work on on the ship. You know, since I’ve been recovering, I haven’t done any maintenance and all,” Hat Kid said, hoping he would buy the excuse. The one downside of him being weirdly attentive to her meant he was so much more pecking perceptive!

At first, he looked a bit put out, and she worried he would press her about it. Luckily, he seemed to collect himself, and instead just snorted. “Well, I sure hope it’s cleaning. That place is a desolation.”

“Hey, I don’t tell you how to live!”

“The way I live is fine, I don’t know what you could think to say about it.”

“I can think of lots to say about it. Like why is there an old toilet lying around waiting to get possessed?”

He waved his hand lazily. “That’s what the contractors are for. You should try it some time. Maybe your kitchen would be functional.”

“Ew, then I’d have to write legal documents.” She turned her nose up. “No thanks.”

Snatcher leaned down and nudged her with an elbow. “You could always hire out! I only take souls as down payments though! But your first session can be a free consultation.”

“Wow, how generous.”

“I’m the definition of generous.”

“Hah, yeah, sure you are.” Hat Kid reached up to activate her transporter. “Um, good night, Snatcher. I’ll see you later.”

He paused for a second, then turned away and quietly said, “Night, kiddo.”

She warped back up to the ship. Hat Kid paced around the flight deck, stopping every so often to survey the planet, focusing on the purple blotch that made up Subcon. How was she going to handle the next several days? Should she just tell Snatcher she didn’t want to do the Death Wishes anymore? If she was going to go with that route, she’d have to figure out how to word it carefully and make sure he was in the right mood when she told him.

Considering how he and Moonjumper had both been checking on her a lot, Hat Kid knew she wasn’t going to have a lot of alone time to plan. Hat Kid rapped a fist against her temple. Her head spun under the uncertainty of the situation. Sure, on the one hand, it _seemed_ like Snatcher might be more receptive to the idea of changing up their plans. “Seemed” wasn’t enough, though. The majority of people she’d ever met had often _seemed_ like they felt a certain way. People had a funny way of sweeping out the rug from under her. She needed to be prepared for what would happen if Snatcher denied her request to stop the challenges, or worse, got angry at her for it. She needed some space to clear her head, and maybe avoid some prying questions for a little bit!

She looked into her telescope, swiveling it across the different sections of the planet. Maybe a getaway would be helpful. A little vacation for herself. It wasn’t like she never went off and did her own thing before, so it should hardly bother anyone if she popped out for a few days. And that way she wouldn’t have to worry about coming up with excuses to Snatcher for why she didn’t want to start any new Death Wishes yet. He couldn’t ask her to start a new contract if she wasn’t there!

As she walked past the screen that showed the ship’s power, something caught her eye. “Hey, that’s odd.” The number of time pieces read one lower than she remembered. “I swear I was at full power.” Her first thought was that someone must have taken it. She worried about Mustache Girl. Hat Kid had been careful when she first returned to Mafia Town, not wanting to have an awkward run-in with her friend-enemy. Hopefully Mustache Girl hadn’t spied her and tried to steal something again. Hat Kid shook her head. The ship should have alerted her, and anyway Mustache Girl wouldn’t have just taken one time piece and left it at that. So that left Snatcher and Moonjumper. Well, of the two, Snatcher was the far more likely suspect. Hat Kid sighed. As much as she hated having a time piece missing, she was not ready to get into it with him yet. At this point, she at least trusted him enough that whatever his reasons for taking it, he wasn’t going to use it for a world-ending disaster, and so it could probably wait until she got back.

Hat Kid plopped down into the command chair and rested her head on the console. “What to do?”

Rumbi trundled over and beeped at her.

“Heya Rumbs. Don’t suppose you have any advice?”

Rumbi whirred and clicked, and the sound of gears grinding made her crouch down on the floor beside him. “Aww, buddy, did something get jammed again?” She picked up the robot and inspected underneath. A piece of thick paper had lodged itself in the rotating brush that Rumbi used to sweep up the floor. Hat Kid shimmied it out with care, not wanting to break the gears.

She held the paper up to examine what had gotten Rumbi stuck. It was a brochure advertising: “Arctic Cruise! Buy your tickets for the S.S. Literally Can’t Sink!” It was among the detritus she had picked up from her adventures on Earth over a year ago. But the cruise line had literally only just started. It was probably still operating. After all, the ship couldn’t sink, right? Hat Kid punched in some of the brochure info into her console and the screen honed in on a marina in the north.

“Rumbi! You’re a genius!” A cruise! That sounded fun. Hat Kid had never been on one before. She would go check it out and if the cruise was still offering tours, she might grab herself a ticket and go on a little adventure. Being out on the open sea seemed like a great way for her to get her thoughts together.

Hat Kid ran to her bedroom to pack. It was the arctic, which was probably cold, so she packed the gift dress from Snatcher, and oh, the ocean, so maybe the water-resistant one he made for her too, oh and also--. She ended up with a rather full inventory. Thank goodness for quantum suitcases! Much better storage.

She ran over to the teleporter which was still set to the coordinates for the marina. Hat Kid waved goodbye to Rumbi. “See ya, bud! I’ll be back in a few days.” Hopefully with a better plan for how to talk to Snatcher. Hat Kid booped the transport button and zipped off to her vacation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I literally forget every week, but if you're on tumblr, please come find me @lemonadesoda!


	9. Hat Kid's amazing vacation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snatcher's prolonged anxiety attack. Moonjumper's epic callout post.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, well, well. Here it is. I've been dying to post these chapters for weeks. They were a beast to write. Remember when I said these chapters took finesse? I think between the scrapping and unscrapping and re-scrapping and re-unscrapping of various scenes, the amount of words I ended up putting into these were like 3 times what you're actually seeing in final form, which is already a lot.
> 
> Hitting just the right tone was a challenge, but I think I'm sufficiently satisfied with how they turned out. This chapter, a lot of Snatcher's emotional issues come to a head, and you get some of Moonjumper's perspective!

Snatcher paced in the hollow, drumming his fingers on every surface he passed. A new cluster of minions hopped up to him, and he rounded on them. “Anything?”

They quivered as they shook their heads. “Sorry, Boss, she wasn’t by the well either.”

It was both a relief and anxiety-inducing at the same time. Realistically, Snatcher could vaguely sense Hat Kid’s presence anywhere within the bounds of Subcon. If she were here but not noticeable, it would be because she was...dead. Snatcher could barely think the word, especially not so soon after the barely avoided disaster from a week ago. If the minions found her in Subcon, they would be finding a body. At the very least, she could still be alive.

But she had been gone for two days straight. He had checked on her ship the morning after he’d last seen her. Their last parting had been strange, because usually she loved to mill around until she passed out, leaving him to return her to bed in something that had become a bit of a ritual between them. It was the first time in a long while she had ever excused herself early, and the fact that she had been gone the next morning already had him concerned. Snatcher had tried to brush it off. She tended to come and go as she pleased, but usually he could find her either on the ship or off with that crescent-faced smiler if she wasn’t with him. After follow up searches had turned up nothing, though, Snatcher had worked himself into a fit.

“We searched as far as we could across the bridge…” the next squad of minions reported. “No sign of her.”

Snatcher slumped into his chair, covering his face with his hand. No, the kid probably wouldn’t have gone there. He knew she genuinely feared Vanessa. He could at least feel confident in that. Beyond that, though, he had no idea where she could have gone. The possibility that someone had come and taken her occurred to him as well, and the wave of terror and fury that the thought conjured rippled outward. Outside, the flames surrounding the hollow surged in response to the flux of his magic, and the effect propagated beyond.

“Kid, seriously…” He could not deal with this right now. Not right after the ordeal she had already put him through. Not right after he had just started chipping at the walls he’d built up. He was walking on a delicate tightrope that was, at the moment, barely holding him afloat. Treacherous what-ifs hissed at the edges of his mind.  _ Don’t think about it. Don’t think about it. Don’t- _

Another presence in the hollow caught his attention. Snatcher uncovered his face, but instead of seeing another group of minions like he expected, Moonjumper hovered at the entrance of his house.

“You,” Snatcher said. “Is she with you?” he asked desperately.

Moonjumper frowned at him. “Our friend? No, I assumed she has been with you.”

“Well, she’s not!” Another wave of magic surged out from him. As much as he couldn’t stand Moonjumper, even he knew the kid was safe in their presence. If she had been with them, at least he could relax. Mostly. But no. She still. Wasn’t. Anywhere.

“Snatcher,” Moonjumper said in a steady voice that only served to fray Snatcher’s nerves even further. “Can you tell me what’s going on? I’ve been feeling your magic surging for hours.”

“Is it not obvious? The kid! She’s gone. For two days straight. She’s not on her ship, she’s not in the forest, she’s not with you, she’s not with me. WHERE?” He slammed a hand down on the arm of the chair, making the lights flicker.

Moonjumper was silent, concern breaking out on their face. Their eyes flicked back and forth as they mused. “When she went on her adventures,” they said, still in that infuriatingly slow, even tone, “she was known to be quite headstrong and would often go off on entire adventures without any indication. She might be off on one of them.”

“Oh and you know this because you were such great pals.” Snatcher bit out the words. Yeah, the corpse thief apparently had known her for just a bit longer than Snatcher had, what with their weird disguises. It made him want to set them on fire. He wanted to set himself on fire too, if it would make the racing thoughts in his head shut the hell up.

Moonjumper didn’t acknowledge the barb. “I’m just saying it’s not the time to panic yet.”

“How? How is it not? She’s been either on her ship or in Subcon nonstop since she got here. And now it’s been two days. Where would she go? She just recovered from-” Snatcher cut himself off. He almost let slip that Hat Kid had died. He hadn’t admitted it to Moonjumper. He...couldn’t invite that judgment. They already disapproved of his soul-stealing ways. He didn’t need their scorn over his-his  _ failure _ to take care of her. Not from  _ them _ of all people.

“I don’t know. That’s my point. I’m worried too, you know--”

“Funny way of showing it.”

“--my first instinct is to try and retrace her steps so maybe we can get a better idea of where she is,” Moonjumper finished, glaring at him.

“You think I’m an idiot? I’ve checked her ship a dozen times by now. I have no clue!”

“But did you do it with her in mind? Did you go through her ship and try to imagine what she was thinking before she left?”

Snatcher thought back to his investigations. Quite frankly, he didn’t remember it particularly well; his mind had been in too much fog. He hated that Moonjumper had a point. Several points in fact. Thinking back, Snatcher had been too worked up to think clearly.

Moonjumper watched him. “Let’s go back up there and check again,” they said.

Snatcher wanted to tell them to go to hell, but so far his hunt had been unsuccessful. If having Moonjumper’s eyes on the problem could get him a solution, he would take what he could get. “Fine.”

Snatcher took them both up to the ship. Part of him hoped that the kid would be there, and all of this would turn out to have been for nothing. But the ship remained quiet as the two spirits floated through the halls. Moonjumper surveyed Hat Kid’s bedroom.

“Look, there are clothes tossed about here.” They stopped by her closet.

“There are always clothes tossed about here. What’s the point?” Snatcher looked around, trying to figure out what they were seeing. How they expected to find clues in the kid’s disaster of a room was beyond him.

Moonjumper pursed their lips. “You’re not paying attention. She’s laid a number of outfits out. The closet door is still open and so are the drawers. She was rummaging, and possibly in a bit of a hurry.”

Snatcher examined the evidence. It was plausible, sure, but not definitive. Not definitive enough for this jury anyway. “Where in the world would she have to go in such a rush?” Was she in danger and fleeing? Then again, he’d seen how she prepared for the Death Wishes. The kid moved like a tornado even on a good day and left about as much destruction.

“Let’s keep looking,” said Moonjumper.

They passed by the flat little robot vacuum. As it spotted Snatcher, it whirred low in what sounded akin to a growl. Snatcher growled back.

Moonjumper raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“Talking to a vacuum,” Snatcher muttered. He glared at the robot. “Don’t suppose you could actually be useful and tell us where the kid has gone?”

The robot whirred again, but turned around and rumbled toward the transporter on the flight deck and beeped twice. It pointed its holographic face toward the view of the planet out the window.

“Well, Rumbi doesn’t seem concerned at least,” Moonjumper commented. “That’s a good sign.”

“Who?”

“Rumbi,” Moonjumper repeated, as though that answered Snatcher’s question. Snatcher looked down at the robot who turned around. That?

“What, you’re on first name basis with the metal pancake?”

Rumbi chirped indignantly. Moonjumper lowered themself to give it a pat. “He’s Hat Kid’s good friend. Didn’t you know that?”

“How do  _ you  _ know that?” Seriously, how much did Moonjumper know about Hat Kid that he didn’t?

“She told me. Honestly, what do you two talk about?” Moonjumper drifted over to the teleporter and began investigating the apparatus.

Snatcher paused. What  _ did  _ he and the kid talk about? They mostly bickered about nonsense or teased each other. That prompted another question. “What do you two talk about?” he asked Moonjumper quietly.

“Oh everything,” they said, prodding some of the screens. “She tells me about her adventures, I tell her stories. She told me a bit about some of the people she grew up with. They don’t sound like a kind bunch. I don’t care for them at all. Oh and we make fun of you a lot.”

Well, give him a papercut and pour lemon juice on it. First of all, “She just told you about her past? Just like that?”

“Yes? Just like that? That’s how conversations work? Why, how did she tell you?”

“Never mind.” Revealing that he pried into her memories for the Death Wishes would have easily started an argument he didn’t want to get into. Second of all, “You make fun of me??”

“Constantly.” Moonjumper had a sly little smile on, even as their attention was focused on the control panel of the teleporter. Oh, he hated them. Snatcher squinted at them. Just one fire. Just one.

They waved him over at that moment. Dragging his tail, Snatcher slid over to see what they were gesturing at. “What.”

They pointed at the terminal. “I can’t read this, but it appears her last destination was somewhere far to the north near the sea. It’s not exact, but it narrows down our search quite a bit.”

Snatcher followed their finger. The display did indeed indicate a picture of a region of somewhere northwest of the Alpine Skyline. Well, it was the best clue they had. “Let’s go,” Snatcher said. He had never been there, so shadow-walking would have to be done incrementally. He snagged some of Moonjumper’s cloak, and they both vanished.

* * *

Hat Kid braced herself on the railing of the ship, relishing the rushing wind as the cruise liner cut through the water. It was cold, but not the spine-chilling, life-draining cold that Queen Vanessa exuded. Plus, with Snatcher’s coldproof dress, her core stayed comfortably warm. The cruise had been a great idea. The seals were so cute, and so were Conductor’s grandkids. Conductor! What a surprise that had been! She had already run into several people she knew, including some she didn’t really want to interact with like Mafia-Boss-in-a-jar.

The ship was huge though! Easy enough to avoid unwanted attention. Sure the seals made things a bit chaotic, but they were fun to play with and easy to distract, as long as the captain wasn’t around. Hat Kid even ended up helping them with some of their tasks because, honestly, they were pretty bad at them, and she felt sorry.

The views were spectacular as well. Totally different from riding in a spaceship where the views were just, well, space. You  _ can _ get sick of looking at stars, turns out. Seeing the endless sea, watching the rhythmic swirl of white foam around the ship, her mind was free to wander in peace, and she could really focus her attention on the Snatcher Problem.

Usually, the trick with reading grown ups’ minds was figuring out how to read between the lines. Their chief emotion was always annoyance, but you had to figure out what was behind that. At home, she had the system down. Snatcher was so hard, though, because he seemed to change his patterns constantly. Initially, he was pretty easy. He would say nice things while being mean, and then when he was actually being nice, he would say mean things. Simple.

Then there was a point where he was just being mean, but then he took it back? And now he was at a point where he was basically just being nice. It threw off her whole calculus. Would he switch again? More to the point, would he switch again specifically when she told him she wanted to quit doing the Death Wishes? If that would make him stop being nice, then Hat Kid would keep doing them. The whole Problem was that she wanted to preserve whatever was keeping him in his current Nice Mode, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. And you never  _ asked _ grown ups this, because they  _ never told you _ and sometimes got mad at you for asking! It was always a lose-lose situation. You had to read their minds.

But of course, that started her back at the beginning of the same brain loop she’d been on since she left for the cruise. Hat Kid slumped on the railing. This was so hard!

“Something troubling you, honey?”

Hat Kid jumped and spun around. Cooking Cat waved at her.

“Hi, Cookie! Um, a little. But don’t worry about it. I was just thinking about some things.”

Cooking Cat held up a tray of snacks and a drink. “Would you like to have a chat? Sometimes it helps to hear yourself think. We can share some of my soda.”

Hat Kid did like soda. “Hm, maybe you’re right. There’s a lot to explain though.”

Cooking Cat smiled. “I don’t mind long stories.”

They sat at a table above the pool deck and talked. Well, Hat Kid talked. “And so I don’t know whether I should bring it up at all, or just let things go back to the way they were and hope he doesn’t change his mind again,” Hat Kid said.

Cooking Cat listened in silence, only interjecting the occasional “Uh-huh” and “My, my.” When Hat Kid finished, she said, “This friend of yours does sound like a difficult person. I’m not sure what to tell you.”

Hat Kid didn’t feel particularly more enlightened by having said her thoughts out loud. “Right? He’s  _ so _ difficult.” But Snatcher was her friend. She wanted to keep hanging out. She wanted things to keep being fun and nice the way they were now.

“I know it can be hard when you’re worried about upsetting a friend. But if you’re honest about how you feel, surely he would understand, wouldn’t he? Friends should care about such things after all,” said Cooking Cat.

That was the crux of the Problem, wasn’t it? This was exactly why she also avoided talking to Moonjumper. They would have said the same thing, she already knew. Talking about it was a bad idea! She knew if Snatcher were really a friend, he wouldn’t get mad at her for asking to stop the contracts. If he did, he was a bad friend, and...she probably shouldn’t hang out with him. Hat Kid  _ knew _ that. She didn’t want to hear it. Because what if he was a bad friend? Every time she thought back to previous interactions, he had pulled the rug out from underneath her before, just when she had been starting to get comfortable with him. Granted one of those times was the battle for the time piece, and he seemed to have changed his attitude toward her quite a bit since then, but...he still didn’t exactly have the best track record with her trust. Not enough anyway that she could be completely confident in his reaction. Hat Kid dreaded the idea of learning the truth. She didn’t  _ want _ to have to cut him out, since they had a lot of good times together too. Was there really no other solution?

“You’re probably right,” Hat Kid said reluctantly, planting her head on the table and sticking her lip out.

Cooking Cat patted her on the back. “There, there, sugar. I know it’s not easy. But I’m sure things will work out.”

“I hope so. Thanks, Cookie.”

Hat Kid eventually excused herself and found a more isolated spot on the ship. “Maybe I should just stay on the cruise forever,” she muttered. It was no good. Eventually she had to go back and face the music. She just didn’t want to. It sucked to lose so many friends. She hoped that Cooking Cat was right and it would just work out. She would say, “Snatcher, I don’t want to do the contracts anymore. Can we just hang out?” And he would say “Ugh, fine, whatever,” which meant “yes.” Hat Kid sighed. Could she really be that lucky? Hah.

* * *

Moonjumper and Snatcher wandered through the northern forests along the coast. The journey had been exhausting and painstaking, with Snatcher gradually pushing them farther and farther north. Moonjumper had to close their eyes through a large part of the journey, otherwise the constant teleporting would disorient them. Now, at least, the landscape resembled what they saw on the display of Hat Kid’s ship, so they slowed their search down.

Moonjumper forged ahead, sweeping a lengthy zig-zag through the trees, occasionally calling out for Hat Kid. They honestly doubted she would be in this particular part of the coastline, but forward was the only way they had to go. Moonjumper couldn’t let themselves think beyond that, or they would snap.

Behind them, Snatcher followed in a half-stupor, not even bothering to weave around the trees and instead phasing straight through them in a line. Moonjumper faced forward again, reaching deep in themself for the source of calm they needed if they were to have any hope of figuring out where their friend had gone.

She could really just be on an adventure, they reasoned. They often went for days without seeing her, though not lately. But perhaps she was simply so excited to have made a full recovery that she had gone stir crazy and launched herself into the first adventure she could think of. Moonjumper tried not to think about the fact that she spent most of her time in the forest these days. Then again, she had been focused on doing Snatcher’s ridiculous, dangerous “challenges” during that period. They scoffed under their breath. The fact that he seemed to need those contracts as an excuse to have her around frustrated Moonjumper to no end. Was it not clear to him that Hat Kid enjoyed being around for its own sake? At least when he wasn’t being a total buffoon toward her, and actually acted like Moonjumper knew he was still capable of. Their internal argument continued, until Snatcher broke the silence.

“This place is huge. She could be anywhere,” he muttered. “We’re no closer to anything!”

“Can you sense anything?” asked Moonjumper, not bothering to look back. They needed to be able to keep their cool, and if they turned around, they really might lay into him right then. The last thing they needed was his pessimistic reminders that their chances of actually finding Hat Kid were slim. What else were they supposed to do? Stop looking? Moonjumper couldn’t help themself. They  _ were _ worried sick. Even if she had just popped out for a good time, they wondered why she would have done so unannounced. 

“No! I told you, it only works in Subcon. My magic is tethered there.”

Moonjumper gritted their teeth at his response. “Then we do this the old fashioned way.”

They should have checked in on her sooner. Why hadn’t they checked? Damn it, they thought she was with Snatcher, and they hadn’t wanted to impose! He hated when they showed up at the same time. He hated _ sharing. _ They were just trying to be thoughtful. They should have checked on her, and forget what Snatcher thought about it.

“That’s impossible. It’s just the two of us, and she’s tiny. Face it, your royal zombieness. The trail is  _ cold _ .”

Moonjumper stopped and whipped around, giving him an exasperated look. “We’ve only been at this for a few hours. We haven’t even found a town yet. You know, where we could ask people if they’ve seen a little girl?”

What was he trying to say? He was barely even searching. He was the one who had been in a frenzy back in Subcon! Moonjumper had felt the tidal waves of frantic magic in every edge of the forest. And now, what? It was like he was just giving up. Moonjumper closed their eyes and took several breaths to settle their thoughts once again. When they opened their eyes again, Snatcher was just staring at them.

“What is it?” they asked warily.

“How. How can you still be so  _ damn calm _ about this?”

_ What? _ They stared at him in disbelief.

Snatcher’s magic flared up, making the surrounding trees glow with blazing orange and red. The crackling energy of it made Moonjumper’s cloak flutter. “You heard me! Are you in denial? What is it? It’s just the two of us, and we’re still pacing around this damn empty forest with one picture as a clue. How are we going to find her?”

“Snatcher, stop it! It’s barely been two of us. You’ve been dragging behind me for hours. Do you even want to find her? I can’t tell!” The call of their threads hummed around their fingers, and Moonjumper’s frayed nerves fought to keep them subdued. Their hands trembled from the effort to not lash out.

Snatcher surged several feet forward. “Do you? You talk about how great of friends you two are, but you don’t seem worried in the slightest. Do you even care?” His eyes narrowed. “Or did you do something and you’re just leading me along on a wild goose chase?”

That was  _ it. _ They’d had enough. Their hands flexed, and the red threads manifested, coiling through their fingers and up their arms, lashing around them in the air.

“Are you seriously accusing me of hurting her? How dare you! Of course I’m worried!” Moonjumper shouted. “But if your worst fears are right, and she is in trouble, it’s not going to do her any good sitting around panicking and doing nothing! This is the one clue we have. I would rather give everything I have with what I’m able than quit on her, which is what you seem to be doing!”

“Shut up! Just, shut up!” He laughed, a crazed edge creeping into it. “You just don’t get it, do you? For all your claims to understand me, you don’t get it.”

“No! I don’t! How could I? You’ve been steadily losing it over the entire last day! First you’re desperate to find her, and now this? What’s gotten into you? How could I possibly follow that?”

Snatcher covered his face with a hand, still madly chuckling. “You’ve been through it! Haven’t you? Isn’t that what you said?”

“Been through  _ what? _ ”

“VANESSA! You have my memories, don’t you? You know how it feels! How can you still be so calm when you know how it feels? If you actually care about her, how is this not killing you?” 

Moonjumper stared in a moment of confusion, trying to piece his logic together. What did Vanessa have to do with this? Snatcher’s magic was flaring erratically now, and it occurred to them that they might actually have to restrain him, or he might go ballistic.

“Snatcher, what are you talking about? How what feels? How do these things connect?”   
  


“You can’t be serious. Losing her! I can’t! I can’t do it! I can’t do  _ this! _ Not again!”

It clicked together. “Snatcher, it  _ is _ killing me. I can’t lose her either. But you’re talking like it’s already happened. We haven’t finished. She’s not actually gone. We haven’t actually lost her. I have to believe there’s still hope! There is still something we can do, and I’m going to keep up that fight until it’s finished!”

“Hope?” he snarled. “Hope is exactly what the problem is. You spend all this time  _ hoping _ and it makes it that much worse when life  _ grinds it into dust! _ ” The nearby trees actually ignited, and Moonjumper cast their threads out, snapping them taut around each of Snatcher’s arms and yanking him downward. He crumpled onto the permafrost, tail thrashing.

“And your solution is any better? Assuming it’s a foregone conclusion because you’re too afraid to find out the real answer? This is the risk, Snatcher! This is the risk you take when you care about someone, and I know you care about her, don’t even try denying it now.”

Snatcher stopped his struggling, breathing hard as he stared down at the mulch, the embers on the trees crackling as they sputtered out. Steadily, his form shifted, shrinking down and transforming into the shadowy Prince. “What has caring ever got us? How are you not too afraid to face it too? I don’t get you. You say you’ve been through this before, but you just act like everything is fine. It’s all  _ fine, _ and it’s just so easy to go making friends with any old nobody.  _ What the hell is wrong with you? _ ”

The sympathy that had been returning went cold once more. “What’s wrong with me?” Moonjumper let out a too-high laugh, lifting a hand to their forehead. “Where would I even begin? But how can we talk about that without talking about what’s wrong with you?” Moonjumper let the threads uncoil from Snatcher’s arms, letting him face them, if he had the stomach for it.

“You know what your problem is, Snatcher?” Moonjumper ground out. “You’ve spent the last 300 years convinced that caring was the weakness that ruined your life, but it’s not. In all this time, you’ve never admitted that what happened to you--to us!--was never something we could have changed. It was horrible, and there was nothing we could have done. End of story. You talk about how we’re not the same. You’re right. The difference between us is that I accepted that and let myself move forward, and you didn’t. You blamed yourself for not being strong enough to change it, but there's nothing we could have done.”

“Of course there was,” he snapped, though he kept his eyes fixed on the ground. “I stayed with Vanessa. I saw the signs, I knew she was hurting me, but I stayed, because I was too afraid, too weak to cut her off. I clung onto that damn  _ hope _ that things could get better, and look what happened.” His voice softened as his fingers curled, balling up clumps of ice in his grip. “You know what happened.”

Moonjumper shook their head. They lowered their tone as well, but stayed firm. He wasn’t getting it. “You think you could have left? Really? You honestly think  _ she _ would have let you? Could you have done whatever it took to get away, even if it meant hurting her? Of course not. You loved her. It’s what stopped you, us, from leaving in the first place! Not wanting to hurt the person you love doesn’t make you weak, Snatcher. It makes you a normal, good person! And  _ she _ took advantage of that. She chose to do that! That was the true fault. That’s where the blame is. But the lesson you took from all that was that in order to never be hurt again, you had to be just as bad as her!” Snatcher’s head snapped up at that, his eyes wide and his jaw slackening.

“You chose to stop caring about others to make yourself untouchable. Bad news for you, friend, you never stopped caring, not deep down. Time you realized that, and acted like it! If our girl really is out there hurt and alone like you’re so afraid she is, then she needs us more than ever. That’s what I know. That’s all I need to know, and I will deal with the aftermath  _ when _ we find her. Either you can pull yourself together and help me or stay here and wallow on your own time! I'm going.” Moonjumper swiveled around and stormed away, leaving Snatcher to either comply or be left behind.

They refused to give in to the temptation to turn and see if he was following them. They were furious at him. Furious that he could actually be so afraid of his grief that he would accept it prematurely as, what, self-defense? And they were furious at themself for still caring if their words actually reached him. They wanted him to get up and follow. Get up and care about their kid more than he feared losing her. If she needed to be saved, to get up and save her. If she was just out for fun, to get up and be there for her when she was done. But they had had it. If he wasn’t going to fight for her, they would do it alone. They had to, for her sake, and they had no more time to waste on him.

The lighting changed as Moonjumper broke out of the thicket and the starlight glowed down on the sand of the beach that stretched out before them. Beside them, the shadows shifted, and they felt a familiar presence just behind. Moonjumper pointed out across the winding shore ahead, where in the distance, a cluster of lights twinkled against the murky gray of the sea and sky.

“Decided to show up after all, hm?” they said, still terse and still not turning around. “The trail’s not cold yet.”

Snatcher didn’t say anything, but Moonjumper felt a hand drop down onto their shoulder, weary and heavy, and the shadows closed in around them as they teleported once again.

* * *

Hat Kid sat with the rest of the rescued passengers on the lifeboat, pressing her lips together in embarrassment. How was she supposed to know the S.S. Literally Can’t Sink could sink? She just wanted to see how a water ship worked. If it were that dangerous, they should have childproofed it. It was all just excuses for the fact that she knew she’d ruined a bunch of vacations, including her own.

A Mafia freighter had come along in response to their distress and picked them up, and thanks to Jar Mafia Boss’s presence on the ship, they didn’t have to resort to any bribery to hitch a ride back to port.

“Aye, Ah can see the shore from ‘ere,” said the Conductor, holding his grandbabies close to keep them warm. Hat Kid squeezed her way among the crowd of people who craned their necks to catch a glimpse of the blessed land. Indeed, up ahead the docks were clearly visible and getting closer by the minute. Hat Kid breathed a sigh of relief. At the very least, surviving a shipwreck gave some perspective to the scope of her problems with Snatcher. Surely, she could find the courage to talk things over with him now.

A crowd of people were waiting on the piers, either family members anxious to see the passengers or rescue crews waiting to provide aid. The freighter docked, and the lifeboats were hauled in, allowing everyone to disembark and receive blankets and food. Hat Kid reached up to signal her transporter. She’d felt too guilty to abandon everyone in the lifeboats when she was the one who caused them the grief, but now that they were alright, she longed to get back to her ship. Before she could warp back, her gaze caught on some familiar figures in the crowd. She did a double-take and sure enough, saw Moonjumper and Snatcher in the shadow Prince form lurking at the back of the congregation. She pushed her way through the crowd. As she approached, they caught sight of her as well, and rushed toward her.

“Moonjumper? Snatcher? What are you doing here?”

“Kid! You’re alive!” Snatcher charged forward with a frightening intensity. “Where the hell were you?” he shouted, catching her off guard with the force of it. This was not what she expected.

“Wha-”

“What were you thinking, going off like that without a word?” His volume was turning heads. Cooking Cat was watching in concern, actually pushing her way through the crowd toward them. Hat Kid shrank back. He looked furious, but there was something else too that she couldn’t place.

Before she could react further, Hat Kid found herself wrapped in his arms. He hugged her so tightly it was almost hard to breathe. “Snatcher?” she wheezed. She couldn’t see what was going on around them--he was practically curled around her, blocking out her entire view--but she could hear the crowd murmuring.

“Snatcher, Subcon,” Moonjumper’s subdued voice said from somewhere above.

Snatcher didn’t let go of her, but shifted one arm from around her and a sharp whoosh filled her ears, and the sound of the ocean and the cruise passengers abruptly ceased, replaced by the quiet ambience of the forest.

“Snatcher...too tight. Can’t breathe,” Hat Kid croaked. He released her instantly, and when he pulled back, there were tears in the corners of his eyes. He swiped them away and stood up, pacing around the room.

"What were you thinking? A shipwreck. A shipwreck! What if something worse happened? And not a word, not even a note, nothing!" He was shouting again, but his voice was coming out breathless and hoarse.

“Wh-What's going on?” she asked in a small voice.

"Do you really not have any idea how worried-" Snatcher cut himself off, covering his mouth with his hand. As his outburst had continued, Moonjumper floated over to Hat Kid’s side.

"Snatcher," they said in a warning tone.

Snatcher stood fixed for several seconds. Hat Kid could see the tears building back up. Anxiety churned in her stomach. She had never imagined Snatcher crying, ever. Still covering his mouth, he shook his head, turned around and vanished from the hollow.

“Moonjumper...what happened?”

They stared at the spot Snatcher previously occupied. “I-he-we just had a rough few days, that's all. We were just worried about you. It’s alright. It will be alright.” They tried to give her a reassuring smile.

"We have to go find him!" At worst, Hat Kid expected Snatcher to be annoyed by her abrupt departure. She knew it was inconsiderate to not tell them both she was heading out, but she hadn't expected this volatile of a reaction. If Snatcher had just been angry, that was one thing. She knew his temper. But he looked so  _ hurt _ just then, and that scared her more.

Moonjumper rubbed her shoulder. "I think it's best if we give him some space. If he takes too long, I'll go and find him but...I think he needs some time."

Hat Kid sniffled, flooded with worry over Snatcher. She should have just bucked up and talked to him about the Death Wishes in the first place, instead of running away and procrastinating. Now she had just made everything worse. She had gone off to figure out how to make the fun times last longer, but instead, she ruined it herself. Hat Kid hugged Moonjumper and started to cry.

* * *

Snatcher huddled at the base of the thorny tower in the forest outskirts where the Subconites wouldn’t fuss over him. The tears of relief that he had been fighting back from the moment he saw the kid step off the lifeboats finally broke past his barriers. Hat Kid’s shocked expression floated through his mind. It was awful to leave her so abruptly like that, but he  _ couldn't  _ break down in front of her. She  _ couldn't  _ see him like this.

Utter exhaustion still weighed him down since their search through the coastal forest and his fight with Moonjumper. Even now that Hat Kid was back safe, the anxiety that had eaten away at him since her initial disappearance had bloomed into a physical pain, as though his mind, not knowing what to do with the hailstorm of stress and terror and shame, just turned it into a full-body agony. His emotions hadn't overwhelmed him like this since the aftermath of Vanessa, when the fallout of losing her, losing his life, losing his people unmoored him for who knew how long. His memories of the time were a fog. It had been so long since there had been so much at stake, so long since he had  _ cared _ so damn much that it hurt.

It had paralyzed him. Moonjumper was right. He had completely lost his mind. That fact burned him on a core level. The fear of losing everything yet again scalded his old wounds like they were still fresh, and he really had almost resigned himself to it. He almost gave up on her. While Moonjumper somehow found the will to hold onto hope long enough to get the job done, where had he been? Frozen...

And then he didn’t even have the composure to keep himself from shouting at her once she was finally back. As if he’d given her any indication as to how important she had become. How stupid could he be? She was used to doing things alone, to not being wanted. Why would she assume he cared, when on every level he had failed to be someone she could trust? He couldn’t even keep her safe. Snatcher buried his face in his hands, another wave of tears shuddering through him and making his breath hitch.

He dropped his head back against the broken stone wall of the tower behind him, waiting for his body to stop seizing up. God, everything hurt. He shouldn’t have been able to feel pain like this anymore, but somehow, everything hurt. Snatcher knew he would have to get it together soon. He couldn’t keep hiding out here forever, though a part of him wanted to. Right now he could barely think of lifting his arms, much less standing.

A familiar presence approached--or rather, an un-presence, as Moonjumper always felt like an obscuring void moving through the forest. They floated into his peripheral view.

“There you are,” they said.

“Is the kid with you?” Snatcher asked warily.

“She’s waiting in your house. She’s worried sick about you, and the only way I could convince her to stay put and rest was to come out and find you before she ran off to do it herself.” They crossed their arms, watching him.

“Worried…”

“Yes, you dolt, what with you vanishing like that! What was she supposed to think? And despite the fact that I’m still furious with you, so am I, might I add.”

Great, more guilt. Not like he deserved that level of concern from either of them.

They sighed, floating closer. “Honestly, what’s going on with you? The little one is convinced this is all her fault-”

Snatcher shot forward, sending echoes of pain shooting down his body. He whipped his head to Moonjumper, horrified. “What?!”

They gave him a stern stare. “Yes, so you’re going to have to figure out how to explain to her why it’s not.”

“Right, yeah…” Snatcher staggered upright, using the wall to prop himself up. Instantly, Moonjumper was at his side, gripping his arm to help him stay balanced. He lacked the fight to try and shrug off their assistance. What dignity did he still have to protect with them anyway? At this point, they had seen him at his most pathetic.

“Are you alright?” they asked.

Snatcher held up a hand, and they backed off slightly. “Probably not,” he said. He hadn’t had a soul in weeks, occupied as he had been with the kid. This fatigue would take longer to wear off if he didn’t replenish.

“I mean not just physically.”

“Definitely not, then.”

“Will you tell me?”

Snatcher huffed out a sardonic laugh. “Don’t think that’s possible!”

They made a frustrated noise. “Well, you’d better figure out how to tell  _ her. _ I think the two of you need to talk. She deserves an explanation. Or are you going to keep burying it and pretend you didn’t just have a break down in front of-”

“I know that!” he snapped. Snatcher flexed his hands, squeezing his eyes shut. “I know. She deserves better than-” He gestured broadly at himself.

Moonjumper shook their head. “Then  _ be someone she deserves. _ Don't waste time on what you didn't do before. You can’t change it, but you can still choose to be that person now.”

Snatcher went still.  _ Be that person now. _ They made it seem so easy. But they were right. If he was going to commit to this, he owed it to the kid to figure it out. He glanced up at them and gave them a curt nod, grabbing onto their shoulder. Summoning his remaining strength, he warped them back to the hollow.

When they arrived, Hat Kid had curled herself into a tiny ball on his armchair, almost swallowed up by the cushions.

“Kid,” Snatcher said, voice cracking.

She lurched up and turned to him, eyes still watery and red. Without warning, she leaped to her feet and dove into him, knocking him several steps backwards and clinging to him.

“I’m sorry!” she wailed.

Snatcher dropped down to his knees and wrapped his arms around her. “No. No, kiddo, I-I’m sorry.  _ I’m _ sorry,” he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut. He felt a hand on his shoulder and looked up to see Moonjumper. They gave him a nod before sliding out of the tree and slowly disappearing into the murk.

  
Snatcher returned his attention to the kid-- _ his kid _ \--holding her tight while she sobbed.


	10. Face the music

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snatcher and Hat Kid talk about their feelings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was one of my favorite chapters to write. I don't normally do this, but I worked so freaking hard on these two chapters, if you liked them please please tell me what your favorite parts were, I must Know.

Snatcher and Hat Kid sat together in his armchair. She huddled against his chest, legs tucked up on his lap. He was still hugging her close, absently brushing his fingers through her hair, still in his humanoid form. He lacked the strength or the will to change back. She had calmed down after a while, and they both rested in silence, only her occasional sniffles breaking it.

“I'm sorry I upset you,” she said eventually.

He shook his head. “You didn't do anything wrong. It-it was me. I was just...I wished you had told me before you left. I was worried.”

“Why?”

“I had no idea where you went. I couldn't find you for days. I thought,” he inhaled heavily, “I was afraid something happened to you.”

“Sorry,” she said again. “I know it was rude to leave without saying anything, but I just suddenly got the idea and rushed out because I needed to think about some important stuff. I didn't know it would bother you like that. I thought you would just be annoyed.”

“I know, kiddo. I-I know I haven't been clear about a lot of things. It was my fault. I shouldn’t have taken it out on you earlier.”

Hat Kid was quiet for a while. “Wait. So are you saying that all those times I said it seems like you're worried about me, and you were like, 'No way,' you actually were?”

Wow, she went straight for the jugular, this kid. He looked away, swallowing his pride. “...Yeah.”

She leaned back with a gasp. “I knew it!” She craned her neck so he could see her smug little smile clearly.

He gave her a tired smirk in return. “If you knew it, then why didn’t you tell me you were going?”

Hat Kid dropped back down to snuggle against him again. “I mean I didn’t  _ really. _ I actually wasn't sure for a while. I kept thinking maybe, but then I thought I was just making stuff up. That’s happened before,” she murmured.

Snatcher’s face fell. “I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have had to worry about that. I shouldn’t have made you worry about that.”

“Why didn’t  _ you  _ tell me before? That was kind of what I left to go think about.”

Hearing that stung quite a bit. All that grief could have been avoided if he just opened up a bit sooner? Figures. But maybe he needed the wake up call. “I couldn't,” he said. “I mean, I’m not good at talking about these things.” Maybe he had been once. But then again, when was the last time he and Vanessa properly talked? Snatcher remembered Vanessa would tell him about how she felt very often. Somehow it had never been the right time for him to do the same. There was always something that had come up. Her mother dying, her coronation, the stress of running Subcon, it had always felt like a bad time to bring up his worries.  _ I’ll wait until things settle down, _ he used to think.  _ The last thing she needs is for me to make this all about my problems when she’s dealing with so many of her own. _

“Is it because of something I did?” Hat Kid asked.

“No!” It burst out of him, ringing against the previous quiet. She flinched at his shout, and he cringed at his own outburst as well. “No,” he said, softer. It still shocked him to know she had been blaming herself. “Definitely not.”

“Then why? Maybe I can help.”

“I’m not sure you can, kiddo. I’m not sure there’s anything you can  _ do _ .” Her face fell at that, and Snatcher scrambled to think of his explanation. The things he needed to say were things he had avoided even thinking about, much less admitted out loud. And Hat Kid was different. It wasn’t just his past baggage, he realized. This kid...he was  _ responsible  _ for her. She couldn’t harm him, not the way Vanessa could and had. That was the truly terrifying part. You give your heart away to someone so small and vulnerable, and they were so earnest about it that you couldn’t help but do it. A piece of the deepest, most fragile part of yourself, and it was running around jumping out of hundred-foot trees with just an umbrella as a break-fall and getting shipwrecked in the arctic without telling you.

“It’s just that…” Snatcher’s voice caught in his throat. Saying it out loud would make it real.  _ Here goes. _ “When you-when you care about someone. When you spend almost your whole life caring about them, and then you lose them…” He let out a shaky sigh. “Nothing hurts more than that. I never wanted to feel that again.” Vanessa had been the core of his life for years, and then she had turned on him and destroyed everything he ever loved. He couldn’t give Hat Kid a better elaboration. How could there be words to describe how it had felt?

She wrapped her arms around him but waited for him to continue.

“Caring about you,” Snatcher said, and Hat Kid’s head jerked up and she stared at him with wide, questioning eyes. “It scared me. I couldn’t even think about it.”

“Why?” she whispered. “Please tell me.”

He huffed out a laugh. “Because it would hurt again.”

She shook her head fiercely, eyes welling up again. “I won’t hurt you ever again. I promise.”

Snatcher laughed again, still low and tired. The innocence of her statement both warmed his heart and broke it. “Didn’t I say, kid? You didn’t do anything wrong.” 

“But I did! Earlier you were so sad. Because I left and made you worried, isn’t that what you said?”

He reached over and rubbed the tears off her cheek with his thumb. “Kid. Kid, hey. That’s not it.”

“Then what? I don’t understand.” Her lip quivered as she fought to stay composed.

How to make her understand? Snatcher barely understood himself. He was doing a shit job at explaining himself, and she was just getting increasingly distraught.

“It’s not about what you do. I know you won’t hurt me. Not like that. You’re a kid, you-you’re supposed to...what I mean is-” Damn it. Snatcher wracked his brain for the words to say. So much reading and somehow he couldn’t string his thoughts together.  _ Focus! _ He closed his eyes.

“I’m always going to worry about you. You can’t stop that. If anything ever happened to you, anything bad, that would hurt me. If you were sad or in pain or upset, that would hurt. When you care about someone, even if they never do anything wrong, you...you share their pain with them, because you want them to be happy. And they can still reject you. If you wanted to leave Subcon and live your life without me there, that would hurt too.”

“I don’t want to leave! I want to stay.” She frowned at him with such earnest determination, he couldn’t help but smile. The relief of hearing that she wanted to stay with him only compounded it. He felt desperately giddy at her admission.

“I want you to stay too,” he said. “But I’m saying I can’t force you to. If you change your mind, I can’t stop you. Even if you don’t, I can’t follow you everywhere, on your little adventures, and I can’t protect you from everything. I want to, but I can’t. The only way for me to not get hurt is to lock you away and never let you go.”

He watched the understanding of his meaning dawn on her. “Like Vanessa,” she said. Her tears escaped her attempts to hold them back, and she hugged him again with a strength that would have threatened his ribs if he had any. Snatcher stared blankly across the room as he rubbed soothing circles on her back while she cried.

“Yeah, exactly like Vanessa. I won’t do that. I-I  _ won’t. _ ” Snatcher averted his gaze, glaring at the floor. “When I left earlier, I was sad, you’re right. But it wasn’t because of you.” His argument with Moonjumper in the forest flashed in his mind. “Moonjumper, they told me something that I didn’t want to hear, but I needed to hear it. That I was becoming like  _ her. _ And they were right. I realized they were right-”

“No! You’re not!” Hat Kid thumped him harmlessly on the chest with a fist, and it was his turn to jump. “Why would they say that? You’re nothing like her!”

Snatcher scoffed. “Really? Aren’t I? I suppose you didn’t see me while you were gone. You vanished for a few days for an innocent reason, when I gave you no reason to think it would bother me, and I completely flew off the handle.” He sighed. “I was out of my mind when you weren’t there. You said you’ve seen my memories, right? Doesn’t that sound familiar?”

Hat Kid opted to headbutt him this time, bonking her forehead against him repeatedly. “No, you big dummy. You just said you were worried about me and scared something bad happened. That’s not the same at all!”

Her reaction was too comical, and Snatcher couldn’t help but laugh. “Okay, maybe we’re not exactly the same, I know. But jealous? Possessive? Surely that rings a bell. Vanessa was afraid I would stop loving her and leave. Fear can make you a monster.”

She shook her head so fast it was a blur. “It’s different, I’m telling you. I knew you were jealous because you always acted like a big jerk about Moonjumper, but you never actually stopped me from doing what I wanted. Plus you said sorry about it. I mean not out loud most of the time, but I can read grown ups’ minds, so I knew,” she said matter-of-factly.

Snatcher wheezed like a dying animal. It was the sort of laugh that made you go silent and your whole body seize up. He pressed his forehead to hers as he shook.

“Are you okay?” she asked, half-amused, half-bewildered.

“I’m good,” he croaked, when his vocal cords finally released him from their strangle-hold. “Kid, what?” he said, still fighting to keep his cool.

“I  _ mean _ , you were kind of a jerk, yeah. But I knew you felt bad about it after, and you would do stuff to make up for it. That means sorry, even though you didn’t say it. And anyway, you did say it out loud tonight, so there!”

Snatcher pondered what she said. It was true he couldn’t imagine Vanessa showing him any remorse.

“My point is you’re not the same at all. Case closed. And don’t ask me for evidence in writing, or I’ll hit you with my umbrella!”

“Haha, okay kiddo, we won’t take it to court this time.” Her words did encourage him somewhat, but Moonjumper’s point still stood. “Even so, I...need to be better.”  _ Be the person you deserve. _

“It’s okay. I know you don’t mean it.”

“That’s not the point. You’re not, I mean, you shouldn’t have to deal with my problems. I don’t want you to deal with my problems.” Having borne the weight and sharp edges of Vanessa’s insecurities, he refused to put that on his kid.

“I guess…But we’re BFFs. Shouldn’t I help you?”

He mussed her hair. “You can help me by not running off to who-knows-where without even a memo.”

She giggled, shaking his hand off her head. “Okay, I think I can do that.” Hat Kid paused, thinking for a moment. “Snatcher? I wanted to ask you something.”

“What’s up?”

“It’s the thing I ran away to go think about. I wanted to tell you that I don’t want to do the Death Wishes anymore, and could we just hang out instead? I know I should have just talked to you about it, but...I was afraid you wouldn’t want me around anymore if I wouldn’t do your contracts.”

“Kid…” He was about to cry again. Here they were, both wondering if the other would choose them, too afraid to find the answer until life collapsed out from under them. Snatcher wiped his eyes. “Heh, it’s funny. I was afraid to ask you the same thing.”

“Wait, really? But why would you be afraid?”

“Same as you. I didn’t know if you would stick around if I didn’t give you a reason to. I...I haven’t exactly been-I mean-I’m not…” What in the world was he trying to say? “I haven’t taken good care of you.”

Hat Kid wrinkled her nose. “What do you mean? I’m good at taking care of myself, you don’t have to worry about that.”

That hurt too, but it was to be expected. Sure, he was her friend but not someone she could lean on like that. “Right…”

“It’s nice, though,” she said. “Like when I got hurt pretty bad that one time, and you and Moonjumper were always hovering around. I liked that. I just mean you don’t  _ have  _ to do that.”

Snatcher was silent. Should he tell her about that? He lied originally, but no, she had the right to know. If it made her change her mind about him, it would just be the bed he had to lie in. “Actually,” he said, “about that time.” She watched him curiously. “You didn’t just get injured. You,” he inhaled sharply, “you actually died for a little while.”

Hat Kid’s eyes went wide, and then she laughed nervously. “Stop joking around.”

“I’m serious, kid.” It might have been something he joked about weeks ago, but now? He stared at her humorlessly, waiting for it to sink in.

“Oh peck, I really did?” She patted herself down, as if trying to confirm her physical presence.

“Yeah. I had to resuscitate you.” It wasn’t enjoyable to talk about. It meant reliving the terrible panic of the moment, when all of his illusions about her had shattered all at once, and he had to face the reality that he didn’t and never had wanted her to die only once she already had.

“Whoa,” Hat Kid breathed. She wrapped her arms around herself with wide eyes. “That’s crazy.”

“Hah. I guess that’s one word for it.” Not the one he would use. Snatcher monitored her expression. “How do you feel, kiddo? That’s some big news. I would know.”

“Um. A little weird, I guess. I don’t remember any of it, so it doesn’t really feel real. It’s kind of scary to think about. Like I could have just been gone?”

Snatcher squeezed his eyes shut. “Yeah. If I didn’t use one of your time pieces to buy you some time-”

“Oh!” She pointed at him, and he jumped. “That’s where it went!”

“Uh.”

“I knew I was missing a time piece, and I guessed you took it, but I was already freaking out about asking you about the Death Wishes so I decided to bring it up later.” She gave him a soft smile. “You used it to save me.”

“I was the reason you needed saving in the first place, don’t look at me like that. I never should have let it get that far.”

“So, are you telling me you didn’t actually want my soul for all that time? Since you totally could have taken it then.”

Snatcher leaned away and covered his face with a hand. “Hah, no. Apparently not.”

“When did you change your mind?”

He thought about it for a moment. “Honestly, kid, I don’t really know. A while ago, I think. But I didn’t realize it either at the time.”

“Huh.” Her tone indicated she didn’t really understand his answer. Snatcher knew she must have more questions, but the whole incident was a topic he desperately wanted to escape. Honestly, she was taking the news better than he expected, at least on the surface. “So like, what happened actually?”

“Ergh, do you really want to know the details?”

“I mean, a little? I only remember standing on one of the platforms and the other one was really high up. And then I woke up in bed. I honestly thought that contract was a dream, but then I had that huge cut on my back.”

“I don’t know if  _ I _ want to talk about the details,” Snatcher said faintly, still holding his face in his hand.

“Oh. Was it really that bad?”

He looked at her with total bewilderment. “Uh yeah, kid, you  _ died. _ It was a very bad time.”

“I  _ meant _ like relatively. Like was I hurt real bad?”

“I-wh-why do you want to know that?”

“I’m just curious! But it’s okay, you don’t have to talk about it! I know you said it’s hard.”

Snatcher subsided. “Okay. Good.” She still seemed a little dissatisfied. He supposed he could understand the morbid curiosity, but he really didn’t want to have to describe everything, since all that would do is conjure up very fun memories that he totally didn’t want to repress. “Just, you missed the jump, you fell.” He waved his hand vaguely in regard to the rest. “So on.”

“Ohh, I see.” The brief explanation placated her somewhat.

“Are you sure you’re okay with all this?” he asked.

“I don’t know. I think so? Like I said, it doesn’t really feel like it happened since I don’t remember it? I feel like I should be more upset or scared, but I’m still alive right now, so it just feels like the other near-death experiences I had. Like oh, it could have been real bad, but it wasn’t so...yeah.”

“Kid, it’s a little concerning that you’ve had enough near-death experiences that another one doesn’t phase you.” Snatcher sagged deeper into the chair, remembering all the times he had threatened her, sent her on dangerous quests, literally attacked her. Stupid. “How many of them are because of me?”

“Not all of them!” she said hastily, which only made him scoff.

“The problem is that I caused even one of them,” he said. “I...I’m sorry, kid.”

“It’s okay. I forgive you.” She laid back down against him, and he pulled her in close again, resting his chin on her head and staring vacantly at the wall. He didn’t deserve it.

“You have to tell me if it bothers you,” Snatcher said. “Please.”

“I will. I promise.” Her voice was somewhat muffled because she had buried her face in his shoulder. “It makes more sense now.”

“What does?”

“Why you were so freaked out when I left and you didn’t know.”

“Oh. Yeah.”

“I’m sorry I scared you.”

“I told you, you don’t have to apologize. It was all me.”

“I want to, though.” She yawned and curled her knees up.

Snatcher patted her head as she drifted off. “If you insist.”

* * *

“Here, this one’s easy,” Snatcher said, pointing at the star chart in the astronomy book he and the kid were looking at. “That’s Orion. You can always find it because of the three stars on his belt.”

Hat Kid had napped for several hours, totally wiped out from the emotional evening, but when she woke up, neither of them wanted to separate, so they were instead sitting on the floor with a variety of his books sprawled out around them. Hat Kid was swaddled in the old quilt he had taken out for her before and was sitting in his lap as he held the book open.

Snatcher continued, “He’s a hunter. That red star on his shoulder is called Betelgeuse, and it’s-”

“Beetle juice? That  _ can’t _ be its name. You’re teasing!”

“For once, I’m serious, kid. Look.” He showed her the name in the text.

“That does not say beetle juice.”

Snatcher threw his hands up. “That’s how it’s pronounced! I don’t know what to tell you!”

“If I use it in a conversation and someone makes fun of me, you’re gonna get it.”

“Well, they won’t because I’m right.”

She hummed skeptically but didn’t continue the argument. “How about this one?”

“Taurus. The bull. That one’s pretty easy to find too. The horns give it away, and it’s right next to Orion.”

Hat Kid sighed wistfully, running a hand across the page. “I used to know all the constellations. I had to learn them to know about space travel. These are all new,” she said. “How come you know so much stuff? Prince things, law, clothes-making, music, now space too?”

“Hah, what are Prince things?”

“How should I know, I’m not a prince.”

“Wh-” He chuckled. “You were the one who said it!”

“I dunno. Whatever it was you did as a Prince.”

“Mm, I wasn’t the heir, so mostly my job was to support Vanessa with running the state. I spent most of my time at law school though.”

“Oh yeah, you went to school for that. Hah, you’re such a nerd.”

Snatcher lightly noogied her, and she squealed in protest, squirming. He had to wrap his other arm around her to keep her from tumbling out of his lap. “Hey, you’re one to talk, jerry-rigging an entire spaceship together out of spare parts.”

Hat Kid stopped wiggling. “How do you know how I built my ship?”

Snatcher froze. Oh right. He’d never confessed to seeing her memories. Well, no getting around it now. “So, you know how the Death Wishes are built around your memories?”

“Ohh.” Quick as ever on the uptake.

“I, uh, I may have snooped a bit.”

“That makes sense why you know then.”

What? That’s it? “You’re, uh, not mad?”

She shrugged under the blanket. “Not really. I mean, I kind of signed up for that. Plus I saw a bunch of your personal stuff too. It feels like we’re even.”

“Buh-wh-You said you didn’t have a choice! I went looking for yours. I...regret it, for what it’s worth. I shouldn’t have. Not to mention, I kept it a secret all this time.”

“I guess so. But I’m also kind of used to you barging into my stuff, so it doesn’t really feel that different from normal. Honestly, I was way more mad when you double-crossed me for my time piece way back.”

Damn, was he really that bad? “...Point taken,” he muttered.

“What did you see anyway?”

He told her about the memories, how he saw the way she was treated, and how she struggled to survive on her own and succeeded. “Even before I was close to admitting I cared about you, I was impressed.”

Hat Kid ducked her head. “Aww thanks, Snatcher.”

“Where’d you learn to do all that? Seems a bit advanced for someone as small as you.”

“Psh, I’m not that small. I learned it from my caretakers. Every so often they would drag me into lessons, and all they ever did was space travel stuff, so that’s what they mostly taught me. It was the one thing I could really talk about with them that was interesting. And like the building stuff I learned a lot from the maintenance crews. They were nice, and I liked them, but they hardly stayed around for long. There was always a new crew coming in, so I had to start making friends all over again. I know you saw some not great stuff in the memories, but it wasn’t  _ all  _ bad all the time.”

“Well that’s good to hear.” Still, it seemed like a lonely existence for a child, to lack consistent, comfortable interactions. Snatcher’s sense of responsibility for her increased. “You know, I’ve been wondering for a while, why did you come back? I know your homecoming wasn’t what you expected, but you fought so hard to leave Earth the first time.”

Hat Kid went still. “I guess I wanted to see if they would even miss me. Here was the only other place I knew people.”

Snatcher’s chest tightened. He hesitated before speaking again. “What if...what if they do come looking for you?” She said earlier she wanted to stay, but what if that was contingent on the belief she wasn’t wanted back?

She was quiet for a while. Snatcher fought to keep from constricting her in his arms while he waited for her answer. “I like it here,” she whispered finally, barely loud enough for him to hear. Snatcher let out the breath he had been holding.

“Good,” he said, tentatively reaching forward and covering her hands with his.

“Plus I always needed permission to leave the base. I couldn’t just fly whenever or wherever anymore. I always wanted to fly though, even from before. That was my big thing. It was kind of a junker, but I worked real hard on my ship, and I like it a lot now. It’s all mine. I don’t want anyone telling me what to do with it.”

“Heh, yeah, you really earned it, kiddo.” She did a little wiggly dance at his praise, and Snatcher felt like melting inside. “Now I get why you were so determined to get those time pieces back.”

“Yeah, I had to work hard for those too. It’s not easy to charge one. I got some from the warehouse I was stationed at, but it wasn’t enough to get home. I had to harvest time from the deep gravity wells to make the rest.”

“That’s the scariest sentence I’ve ever heard. I’ll borrow that when I need to terrify some new fool passing through here.”

She giggled. “No it’s not! It’s not scary. Space and time are the same fabric in different dimensions. Once you understand them, it’s not so bad to get from one to the other.”

“Hmm, yeah no, that doesn’t make it any better.”

“Space is way cooler than law, so if you can learn about that junk, you can totally learn about this too.”

He gave an exaggerated gasp. “Law is very cool, I’ll have you know!”

“There’s no way that’s true.”

“Sure it is. It’s what runs society. The everyday lives of the people around you are determined by the law and those who make it. Every word counts, and their misuse can ruin the lives of many, but in the right hands, they can protect the vulnerable from being taken advantage of too.”

She actually craned her neck to look back at him as he waxed about his oldest passion. “Huh. When you put it like that, maybe I can actually see why you would go to school for that.”

“It was the best way I could think of to take care of the kingdom.” His gaze became distant as he reminisced. Long before the soul-snatching, contracts and collateral were once tools to ensure fairness and transparency, regardless of power. Once, the Prince had had his vision of how he would protect his and Vanessa’s people. None of what he learned could thaw ice.

Hat Kid flipped through the pages of the astronomy book and surveyed the scattered library in front of them, oblivious to his wistful musing. “So did you have to go to school for all these other things too?”

“Nah, I learned them on my own. It’s not every day that I can rope some poor fool into a contract, you know. I have to keep myself busy somehow.”

“Speaking of fools, are you still, um, catching them?”

“Er, no, not lately. I, uh, I’ve been a bit busy. With you. Since, you know, the-the accident.” In his current state, he could really use the boost, but something held him back from wanting to pursue it.  _ You had to be just as bad as her! _ Damn that Moonjumper. When had they become his conscience?

“Oh, that’s good then.” She tilted her head. “You can’t starve, can you?”

“Hah, no, kiddo. Already dead, remember?”

“So then how come you ate souls in the first place?”

“Yeesh, you like to ask hard questions, huh?” he said in a strangled voice.

“Yeah, that’s how I learned all the stuff I know.”

“Sounds pretty nerdy to me,” Snatcher muttered, and she banged a fist on his knee.

“Don’t dodge the question!”

“Okay! Sheesh! I’m getting to it, let me think.” She actually did wait patiently for him to sort out his explanation.

“I needed the power. When I first became a spirit, I had some new abilities, yes, but I wasn’t strong enough to…” This was a difficult trip down memory lane. “I couldn’t keep the village thawed alone. You see, when Vanessa locked me up, her bitterness and fury exploded, not in fire but ice. Everyone in the village--my home--froze to death.”

“Oh,” Hat Kid breathed.

“Hunting the souls gave me the strength I needed to unfreeze the village, and keep the ice from smothering the rest of the forest.”

“Is that why it’s on fire a lot?”

“Yeah. As long as she’s there, I-I can’t let my guard down. I can’t be weak.”

“But then if Queen Vanessa attacked now, does that mean you can’t beat her this time? Can she hurt you?” Hat Kid latched her hands onto his.

“I’m sure I could handle it.” He actually wasn’t. He had never let himself get this fatigued.

“Maybe-maybe you should get another one anyway. But from a bad guy or something.”

Snatcher craned his head down to her. “Heh, are you encouraging murder? I’m impressed.”

“No! I mean! I don’t know! I just don’t want her to hurt you. Or the village. I know you protect all the Subconites too.”

He rubbed his thumbs soothingly over her hands. “Hey, hey, listen, don’t worry about it, alright? I’m still not totally helpless, you know. I’ve consumed a lot of souls over the centuries, and well, for better or worse, that’s not something that gets reversed so fast.”

“Okay…” She still sounded uncertain.

“Really, kid, you don’t need to worry about me.” He smiled wryly, though she couldn’t see. “Plus, you remember asking what good a power-up potion would be, eh?”

“Ohh! I forgot about them!”

He nudged her with his elbow. “Told you chemistry was a handy skill to have.”

She snickered. “See, you’re definitely a bigger nerd than me.”

“Watch it, kid, you’re still in prime noogie territory.”

Her hands flew up to protect the top of her head. “Nooo!”

Snatcher took advantage and tickled her in the ribs instead, earning himself a shriek and an elbow jab. He only cackled. “There’s always a vulnerability.”

“So rude!” But Hat Kid was cracking up too.

Snatcher marveled at the domesticity of the whole scene. Is this what Moonjumper was talking about when they described spending time with Hat Kid? Just having conversation? The level of peace took him back several centuries. He could almost pretend the bad things had never happened, and this was just his life, sitting and reading with...with his child. Almost. But the crawling anxiety, the voice that always reminded him of good times violently ending returned, jolting him like the sensation of falling in a dream and startling awake. He must have flinched bodily because Hat Kid turned to look at him in concern.

“Are you okay?” she asked once again.

“Y-yeah, just, I was thinking about something.”

“Is it one of those things that’s hard to talk about?”

Snatcher put a hand on her head. She was startlingly empathetic, far beyond her age. He was lucky she stumbled into his life those many months ago. He was lucky she came back. “Kinda, yeah.”

At the very least, he had managed to communicate how he felt toward her. He hoped he had been clear enough. While he was reassured that she at least wouldn’t leave at the drop of a hat (hah), it didn’t change the fact that the relationship still terrified and overwhelmed him. Snatcher needed to be able to take care of her, to protect her--properly--but how could he, really, when he had failed to do it for everyone else in his life? He wished he could express himself better, but most of the words still died in his throat. It had been hard enough to get out the ones he had managed.

Hat Kid stuck a hand out from under the blanket and patted his knee. “It’s okay. You don’t have to say everything out loud. I can read your mind, remember?”

“Is that like an actual alien thing you can do, or?”

“No, silly, not really. Otherwise I would have known all your stuff without you telling me.”

“Heh, I’m just messing with you. But thanks, kiddo. I’m sorry I’m so bad at this.”

“It’s okay. I’m just happy I can stay.”

They fell into a comfortable silence. She plodded through the large astronomy book, mostly looking at the pictures it seemed, before pushing it aside and reaching for the next book. The fairy tale collection. As Snatcher helped pull it within her grasp, the conversation they had before he first showed her the book came back to him. He considered his current form, and the opportunity it presented.

It wouldn’t do to rely entirely on her intuition, as sharp as it was, for all their future communication, but as things stood, there was so much he still needed to express that he just...couldn’t. Not conventionally anyway. Snatcher plucked her out of his lap and set her off to his side. She looked at him in confusion, like a kitten who had been moved from a warm seat.

Snatcher pulled the shadows to him and they swirled in smoky clouds around his right hand. When they settled, he was holding a shadowy violin. Hat Kid put her hands over her mouth, eyes sparkling as she realized what was happening. Snatcher summoned a bow in his left, and tucked the violin under his chin. He breathed in, focusing. It had been so long. Could he even still do this?

He tested the tune, running the bow along the strings in one smooth sweep. A bit screechy. He gave Hat Kid an apologetic look, but she gave him a little wave with her hands: Keep going. Snatcher warmed up, feeling out the motions and shaking off the rust. A bit of tweaking here and there, and soon a silky note hummed from the instrument. He tried a series of chords this time, repeating them until he perfected the sequence. It was starting to come back.

Snatcher started with a simple, funny song that he used to play for the children in the village when he had the chance. It was only a few repeating chords with a bouncing, straightforward tempo. He stumbled on a few notes still, but Hat Kid swayed along with the rhythm, and he grinned at her. Kids always loved that one. She clapped when he finished it, and feeling more confident, his smile faded out again, and his gaze focused.  _ Here is what I have to say. _

The new song started, slow and lilting before the melody stretched out, swelling into a haunting overture. Snatcher played the story of Subcon, grand and beautiful, but a mournful backdrop underlaid it. He remembered what it had been to see the village full of life, the forest green and flowers everywhere. Every season, they held festivals for the planting and harvests, and the sky had still been unshrouded by the chill mist that now coated it, stars glimmering down on the manor.  _ It was beautiful, that life, but you know how the story goes. _

He transitioned to a higher, gentler sequence, played the longing for a life that could have been, played the true happiness he had felt for a time, when all things seemed hopeful and the future still bright. Even that, though, was tinged with sadness at the inevitability of that joy abruptly coming to an end. Another transition, and the grand, haunting tones returned as everything came crashing down, the happiness quickly replaced by betrayal, confusion, sorrow, and then finally by his grim acceptance of the life he had come to live, in the stasis of the forest where flame battled eternally with ice.

Snatcher stole a glance at Hat Kid. She stared, transfixed by the music. Her eyes were shining, and he went forward with renewed confidence. Where does this story end? He felt out the path laid ahead in the music, following the feel of the song, and the melody lifted again, but this time without the mourning behind it. It was a brief lift, a simple finale, but behind it, Snatcher allowed a tentative hope to sneak in. It was a question, the same question he had been asking himself for a while now, ever since she dropped back into his life.  _ Is this possible? That happiness...is it still possible? _

When the song finished, he de-materialized the violin and bow in a poof, and was immediately tackled by Hat Kid. They toppled over onto the floor. She gave him another bonecrushing hug, clinging to him even as he struggled to push them both back upright.

  
“That was beautiful,” she whispered. When she faced him, for once Snatcher felt certain that he could read the feeling she was projecting to him:  _ I hear you. I understand. _


	11. Making room

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Area ghost goes full marshmallow, says f-word.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Thanks so much for waiting and for the lovely reviews you left in the interim! We're back with the longest chapter to date...Until 16, chapters under 5000 words have apparently gone to die. I'm sure everyone has been wondering what the aftermath of the last two chapters is going to be. Snatcher is in full dad-mode, but there are still emotional hurdles for everyone.
> 
> I debated on whether they should have the language to discuss panic attacks. The whole game is an anachronism stew, so I said fuck it, let's do it.
> 
> Also, thanks to the hiatus, I'm officially ahead of schedule so I'm definitely going to finish the story within the next couple weeks. That said, I have an important question: Would you prefer if I kept up the weekly updates as normal, or if I dropped the whole rest of the story as soon as it's ready? Please let me know in the comments.

Hat Kid walked along the forest path, with Moonjumper floating alongside her for their habitual stroll. Normally they chatted freely, letting the conversation bounce wherever it would. But Hat Kid’s conversation with Snatcher the other night still weighed on her mind. She understood him better now than ever, but it was still obvious there were things he wanted or needed to say that he just couldn’t. Not to mention, there was another matter at hand to deal with…

“By the way, why did you tell Snatcher that he’s like Vanessa?” Hat Kid gave Moonjumper a pointed look. “That was really mean.”

Moonjumper cringed, ducking their head at her reprimand. “Erm yes, I, uh. I suppose I did say that, didn’t I? Well, we were in a bit of an argument. He was angry, I was angry. Some things may have been said that shouldn’t have been. But, ahh, I think you are right. It was still cruel to say it like that.” They glanced off to the side. “I should probably have a chat with him about things. Assuming he’ll even speak to me.” They slumped their shoulders.

Hat Kid sighed, reaching up to hold their hand. “Now might be a good time. He’s been in more of a talking mood now that I talked to him.” She had practically stayed up all night, as she and Snatcher had continued their discussion long after he had played violin for her, though mostly sticking to lighter topics. It had been pretty clear he had been possibly even more exhausted than she was, both physically and emotionally. Hat Kid had eventually fallen asleep in the hollow again; that morning she awoke in the armchair with Snatcher coiled around her, back to his regular form.

Moonjumper still twiddled their fingers, even after her reassurance. “For you, perhaps. For me, I’m not so certain. As I’ve told you before, he has never had any real enmity with you. I really...I really let him have it back then, and I doubt he wants to rehash it.”

“I don’t know what enmity means, but I still think you should try.” She tugged on their arm. “If he acts like a butt I’ll stop him. I think he’ll listen to me better now.”

“Yes, of course, you’re right,” Moonjumper said with a groan. “I’m not about to use you as a shield, of all things, though.”

“I’m just saying I could be like a-what’sit-a person in the middle.”

“A mediator perhaps?”

“Yes, a mediator!”

They seemed uncertain. “I don’t know. I think it’s probably better for us to talk alone. He might not want to speak openly with you there.”

“Why not? When we talked, it seemed like he  _ wanted  _ to be more out in the open with me.”

Moonjumper drummed their fingers on their chin. “I only mean that he might hold back for your sake, seeing as you and I are friends. I would feel the same. It’s no good to involve someone in a conflict that they aren’t a part of. Really we need to be able to be as honest as possible. Perhaps not as harsh as when we were fighting, of course, but still. Does that make sense?”

“I guess so? If you really want to be one on one, then I don’t have to come. I just wanted to make sure you two don’t start fighting again.”

Moonjumper gave her hand a squeeze. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure it doesn’t escalate.”

Hat Kid pursed her lips. “Honestly, it’s not really you that I’m worried about.” She tried to put on a confident face. “Well, I’m sure it will all work out,” she said, parroting Cooking Cat. After all, that hope ended up proving right in her case. Sure the road had been a little bumpier than she expected, but things were better than ever now! Maybe Snatcher would be in a good enough mood that he would actually listen to Moonjumper. After all, he admitted that he thought they’d been right about him, even though Hat Kid vehemently disagreed on that particular point.

“I admire your confidence,” Moonjumper said faintly. They attempted to brighten up. “I am glad to hear your conversation with him seems to have gone very well, though.”

Hat Kid beamed. “Oh yeah! I mean, a lot of it was kind of sad. But I feel a lot more comfortable now. It feels like we can finally just hang out like I always wanted.” It was more than just kind of sad. Her heart still ached for him, and her mind wouldn’t let go of the idea that there had to be something she could do to make him feel better. “He even played a song for me.”

“Oh?” Moonjumper’s smile became softer and genuine. “You managed to finally convince him. I wish I could have been there to hear it.”

“Yeah. It was really beautiful. I wish I could hear you both play together one day.” 

“That might be a little farther off, my dear.”

Hat Kid nodded glumly, but deep down, she made it her new mission to get her two friends to be friends with each other too. She desperately wanted to hear what a duet between them would say. Snatcher’s song had told her far more than his words, not to say she hadn’t appreciated those as well. That was the thing with him, she was realizing. He wasn’t about words. They were hard for him, and painful too it seemed. It was a good thing she was good at reading minds, now that he had given her what felt like the crucial piece of the puzzle that made the whole image coalesce. Now she was so much more confident in his tells.

Their route was nearing its end. Hat Kid could see the glow of Snatcher’s tree up ahead, blurred by the ever-present mist of the forest. She squinted at it, just making out the shadowy figure of Snatcher hovering outside it. “Huh, surprised he’s not reading.”

Moonjumper peered at the distant hollow as well. “I hope everything is alright.”

When they said that, Hat Kid released their hand and hurried toward the tree to check. Moonjumper sped up to keep pace with her. The two of them arrived at the fence line, and from there it was easy to see the mess Snatcher was currently making. Snatcher himself seemed at ease, much to Hat Kid’s relief, but his furniture was scattered around the clearing and there was now a gaping hole in the tree above his usual living space and a veritable snowfall of wood chips covering the ground and the surface of the water. Minions were climbing about the furniture, and they and a crowd of Dwellers were idling about watching Snatcher work.

“Whoa, what a mess!” Hat Kid said.

Snatcher poked his head out from around the other side of the tree. “What’s up, kiddo? Had a good walk? Hope Moony McMoonface didn’t bore you to death.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Moonjumper said.

“Unfortunately,” replied Snatcher, in a flatter tone. He lifted a hand to his chin for a moment, and then pointed at the tree with a flick of his finger. The thorny root that wrapped around it shifted, the wood creaking and popping as it moved to match up with the new opening in the tree.

“What are you doing?” Hat Kid jumped up onto the table that normally resided in the corner of Snatcher’s room but was now sitting on the side of the pond with a couple of minions piled on top of it.

“Redecorating.” With another flick of his hand, Snatcher poofed a dark purple cloth into existence, sweeping it across the second story opening. A thinner thorny vine burst out of the bark and stitched through the cloth, affixing it over the top of the opening. Snatcher batted the cloth a couple times, watching how it swung before descending, looking satisfied. “I figured if you were going to keep falling asleep down here, you might as well have somewhere more comfortable to stay.”

Hat Kid’s mouth dropped open. Wait, was he saying…

“Did you make me a room?” she asked, cupping her cheeks with her hands.

“That’s so sweet,” Moonjumper whispered next to her. They were clasping their hands together in front of them.

“Ew, you haven’t left yet?” Snatcher said as he approached.

Moonjumper sighed. “Yes, yes, I can leave you two to it.”

“Don’t be mean!” Hat Kid chided as she leaned across the table to catch Moonjumper by the sleeve. “Come on, Snatcher, let them hang out.”

Snatcher looked at Moonjumper, then at her. Hat Kid smiled up at him, cranking up the cute charm. As she hoped, after a few seconds of standoff, Snatcher slumped, making a grumbling sound in his throat. “Ugh, fine, whatever.”

“That means yes,” Hat Kid whispered to Moonjumper.

“I heard that,” Snatcher said. He held out a hand to Hat Kid and when she took it, he pulled her into his arms and floated her up to the threshold. Snatcher pushed the curtain aside and set her down in the new room. “Yeah, it’s free real estate, kid. Whatever you want to do. Fill it with half of your pillow ocean for all I care.”

Moonjumper hesitantly floated up to look as well, hovering a respectful distance outside the room. Hat Kid waved them over. “Come look! We should all decorate it together!”

“Kid, don’t you know it’s rude to invite someone into someone else’s house?” Snatcher let the curtain drop again right as Moonjumper crossed the threshold, making them snag themselves in it. When Hat Kid gave him a stern glare, he shrugged at her.

Moonjumper untangled themselves from the curtain, with only a mildly exasperated, mostly amused expression and did not make any comment.

“You said it’s free real estate, so I’m bringing Moonjumper.”

“Oh! You did not just loophole me, kiddo!” Without warning, he lunged for her, and Hat Kid squealed as she tucked and rolled away. The room was devoid of places to take cover, so he caught her easily, holding her upside-down by the boot, while she flailed and laughed. Moonjumper covered their mouth with one hand as they watched the antics from the doorway, shoulders shaking.

“Sounds like someone’s been getting lessons in law,” they said.

“No way, it’s too boring!” Hat Kid still dangled from Snatcher’s grasp, face flushing from the blood rushing to her head. She stuck her tongue out at him. Just because he had some inspiring things to say about law the night before didn’t mean she was going to read about it!

“I’ll drop you in the pool! Don’t test me!”

“Do it, fool!” she shouted.

“That’s it!” Snatcher tossed her into the air and flipped her upright but before she could land, he caught her, pulled her in close and zoomed out through the curtain and straight down into the water with a colossal splash. Right before she thought they would probably hit the bottom, the heart-stopping descent suddenly reversed, and they rematerialized back in her room. He must have taken them through a portal straight through the bottom of the pond.

Water puddled all over the floor, the majority of it from Hat Kid. Her soggy hat flopped down over her eyes, and she giggled in the direction she thought Snatcher and Moonjumper were. “I god wadder ub mah nose.”

“Serves you right, little smart-alec,” Snatcher said. Her hat lifted up again as he tipped it back to its proper position with a finger.

“Make sure you dry off properly.” Moonjumper floated over, wiping her face off with the edge of their cloak. “You’ll catch a chill.”

“Naw, I’m not cold.” Hat Kid’s traitorous nose took the opportunity to sneeze right then. Both spirits frowned at her. “I’m serious! Besides, I have this.” She accessed her quantum inventory and materialized the cold-resistance dress that Snatcher had made her.

Moonjumper crossed their arms skeptically. “You’ll still be wet.”

“It’s fine, Geppetto, I got it.” Snatcher made another sweeping motion over Hat Kid, and similar to the spilled potions in his lab, the sheets of water lifted off of her. Her clothes were still slightly damp, but she was no longer dripping.

Moonjumper rubbed a bit of Hat Kid’s sleeve in their hand. “She’s not totally dry. She can still get cold,” they told Snatcher.

“What, do you want me to build a fire or something?” he retorted in an undertone.

“It would help! Unless you prefer her getting sick.”

“Wh-I-no! Fine! You’re the expert  _ apparently _ !”

“I’m pretty sure you still know how colds work!”

It was Hat Kid’s turn to smother a laugh as she watched them mutter at each other over her health. As long as Vanessa didn’t decide to freak out and send a blizzard their way again, she was perfectly happy at this point to let the rest of her stuff air dry. All the running around still had her blood pumping, and the dampness of her clothes actually felt pleasantly cool.

Snatcher conjured up a set of large candles anyway, grumpily following Moonjumper’s advice. He levitated Hat Kid closer to them. Even though the candles were a little on the warm side, Hat Kid dutifully stayed put, and Moonjumper seemed placated.

“I like the pillow idea,” she mused, scanning the empty space. “But not for the whole room. And if I’m going to sleep here, I need a comfy bed. I only have the one and it’s kind of attached to the ship.”

“I’m sure we could construct one,” Moonjumper said. They roved about the room as though visualizing it along with her.

“Who’s we? I’m the one with the creation magic,” Snatcher groused as he glared at them wandering around the room.

“I’m not without magic myself, you know. I could help.”

“Don’t need it, don’t want it.”

Hat Kid shook her head. Maybe Moonjumper was right, and she was too confident about how things would go. It had been hard enough for Snatcher to have a feelings conversation with her, and he actually confessed to caring about her. She might have to be a mediator after all. Moonjumper looked dismayed as well.

“Let’s just start. I’m going up to the ship to pack everything I want. Don’t start any fights!” Hat Kid stood up and hit the teleporter signal, leaving the two of them alone together.

When she arrived back in the ship, she hurried to the bedroom and began zapping dozens of pillows into her inventory. Her heart was racing. Even though she didn’t really have a time limit, Hat Kid rushed around the ship. It almost felt like trying to load up for when she was trying to escape the dying colony. Everything suddenly seemed so essential. Rumbi trilled quizzically at her as he swiveled back and forth, watching her hurry about.

“Maybe I should slow down, in case Moonjumper is talking to Snatcher right now,” she said to herself. “I don’t want to interrupt.” Rumbi beeped sympathetically.

At the same time though, she was practically vibrating with excitement to set up her new room. Impatience was taking over. “Agh! I can’t wait!” She started up the transporter again and warped back down to the hollow. Before she vanished, she waved to Rumbi. “Keep an eye on the ship for me, ‘kay!”

Snatcher and Moonjumper were back outside, and they both turned to her once they heard her arrive.

“Oh, good, you’re back,” said Snatcher. The two of them were hovering around a slab of wood and piles of cloth, plant matter, paper, and other miscellaneous material that the minions were gathering and tossing in the middle of them. “You like drawing, right? Draw what you want me to make.”

Hat Kid peered at the piles of stuff before hopping back on the large table she had sat on earlier. From her inventory, she materialized her crayon set and some scrap paper and pondered for a moment. What did she want him to make? “Anything?” she asked.

“Pretty much, kid. I’ll tell you if it’s impossible.”

The endless possibilities made her head spin, and Hat Kid stared at the blank paper, holding her crayon over it for several minutes. She glanced around, hoping to spot something that would inspire her. Snatcher, apparently tired of waiting, drifted over to look over her shoulder.

“What, got a wrench in the gears up top?”

Hat Kid still held her gaze fixed on the empty paper, practically breaking a sweat. “You said anything. That’s too many things.”

Snatcher snickered, thumping a hand on top of her hat. “Well don’t blow a gasket, kiddo. What did you pack? The bed can be later.”

Hat Kid sagged in relief. Of all times to have artist’s block! Maybe if she saw what the rest of the room ended up looking like, it would all come together. She leaped off the table and onto Snatcher’s back. He lurched in surprise, but piggy-backed her up to her room. Why bother climbing when you could get a big floaty ghost to be your elevator?

Moonjumper, who had been rather quiet, followed them up again, though still hanging back. Hat Kid pursed her lips. They never had a problem being very talkative with just her, but they looked pretty uncomfortable right now. Hopefully Snatcher hadn’t said anything nasty while she was away packing. As she opened her inventory and unloaded the mountain of pillows, toys, snacks, and furniture, Hat Kid pondered how to smooth out the awkwardness.

Snatcher scanned the mess around them. “Geez, did you pack the whole ship? It’s just the one room, you know.”

“But everything seemed important!” She set about gathering the pillows into a nest on one side. Perhaps the bed could be in the middle of that. She could sleep like a bird.

“I’m sure we can make adjustments on the fly,” said Moonjumper. They began gathering up the piles of blankets and clothes and started folding them neatly. “It’s not as if you can’t change your mind.”

“Wouldn’t bother tidying, space cadet, it’ll end up on the ground again the moment you blink,” Snatcher muttered.

“Hey!” Hat Kid protested.

“Well, it’s true. Let’s have a moment of silence for the floor. We’ll never see it again.”

Hat Kid launched a pillow at him. Snatcher allowed it to phase straight through him, and it poofed against the far wall. She stuck her tongue at him again.

“Well, you did say it was free real estate,” said Moonjumper primly, laying the folded pile on a colorful table Hat Kid had unpacked and pushing it off to the side. They turned to Hat Kid. “But if we organize it just for right now, it might be easier to realize your vision.” On the table, she still had some of her drawings. Moonjumper gathered the loose sheets of paper and admired them.

Hat Kid suddenly felt sheepish. Most of it was art of them and Snatcher, and not really great art either, so it was kind of embarrassing! “Wait, don’t look at those!” She jumped off the pillow stack and ran over to try and snag her pictures back.

“What? Why not? They’re wonderful,” said Moonjumper. They still handed the papers back when she reached out for them, thankfully. “Actually, I have already seen some of them,” they admitted.

Even more embarrassing! “When??”

“Oh, while putting you to bed a few times.”

Hat Kid whirled to Snatcher, aghast. “Did you see them too?”

Snatcher was fastidiously avoiding eye contact. “Uh, yeah, once or twice. You kinda left them out in the open, kiddo.”

She looked at her own artwork, flipping through them. They were just sketches of the fun times she had with the two of them, or in some cases, fun things she wished they would do together. She stopped on one that showed Snatcher and Moonjumper on either side of her, both holding her hands. Hat Kid hastily whipped that one down to the bottom of the stack. Moonjumper tilted their head at her, while Snatcher continued to seem embarrassed in his own right. It wasn’t that they were deeply personal or anything, but for some reason, she just felt very  _ seen, _ and it was unsettling.

“Why don’t you use them to decorate?” Moonjumper suggested.

Hat Kid flushed. “I don’t know…”

“I would just hate for them to get lost or crumpled. They really are quite sweet.”

Hat Kid held one of them up to imagine it on the wall. It was of her and Moonjumper looking out the window of the ship. The wall was rather barren. Still, it felt a little conceited to hang her own art on her wall. “Er, I think I’d rather put up some posters or something.”

“Ah, alright, whatever you want. But, um.” Moonjumper fidgeted. “May I at least keep one of them?”

“You want it? But I can make you a better one at least. I didn’t even color these in all the way.”

They smiled at her. “That’s alright. I really do like them the way they are.”

“Oh...well, okay, I guess if you really want them.” Hat Kid hopped over and held them out for Moonjumper to pick their favorites. They ended up pulling three.

Moonjumper examined their selection and beamed. “Thank you, my friend! I will treasure this gift!”

Hat Kid stole a glance at Snatcher who she realized had been watching the exchange. When he noticed she’d caught him, he flinched and glanced away again. She walked over. “Did you want some too?” she asked hesitantly.

“Oh. Um.” He rubbed the back of his neck.

“You don’t have to if you don’t like them.”

“No! I like them,” he blurted. As if to prove himself, Snatcher leaned forward to look, just as Moonjumper had. He pondered for a while, then surprised her by taking all of the ones where she had drawn them together, examining them in pensive silence that Hat Kid had come to understand as Thinking About Something. She took the scarce leftover sketches and tucked them away. Best to leave him alone for a while. Maybe they could talk more about it later, because he was being a little weird, she had to admit.

Hat Kid surveyed the room. Might as well experiment! She started moving things around, setting up her desk, hanging up curtains. As soon as she got into motion, the ponderous quiet that had befallen both of the spirits broke abruptly as they sprang into action to help her move her belongings. Hat Kid ended up taking on a director’s role, commanding her production from the top of the pillow pile.

“No, never mind, that should go on that side.” She gestured to a shelf that Snatcher levitated to the opposite side of the room. “Hang that across here. Yeah, like that.” Moonjumper fastened a cloth canopy overhead. “Toys over here! Closet here!” She felt like DJ Grooves or the Conductor.

After some shuffling around, she finally clapped her hands, satisfied.

“Anything else, your highness?” Snatcher asked, sporting a sarcastic grin as he leaned against the closet he had moved for the third time.

“That will be all,” Hat Kid said in a snooty accent.

“Terrific. That’s all the freebie moving service you’re getting. After this, you’re on your own!” he said. Behind him, Moonjumper shook their head, and mouthed  _ he’s lying. _

Hat Kid slapped a hand to her mouth to stifle a giggle, but Snatcher noticed and whipped around, while Moonjumper looked at the ceiling, all innocence.

“Oh, I get it. A conspiracy. I see how it is.” He crossed his arms. “See if I’m making you that new bed.”

“Noo! Blackmail!”

“ _ Collateral, _ kiddo! Didn’t I teach you anything?”

“I told you, I wasn’t listening!”

“Sounds like it’s too bad for you then!”

Hat Kid hucked another pillow at him, and once again, he easily avoided it. This time, though, he retaliated, summoning one himself and flinging it back at her. She leaped out of the way as its impact sent up a burst of other pillows. With a tuck and roll, Hat Kid grabbed two more and lobbed one at him, and sprang toward him to swing the other at his face.

Snatcher cackled as he teleported away, making her overshoot her attack and land face-first into the section of the pillow stack behind him.

“No fair!” She squirmed her way out of the pile.

He winked at her. “If only you had some potions. Too bad I’m not giving you any.” Immediately, another pillow smacked him in the back of the head. Both Hat Kid and Snatcher turned toward Moonjumper, who had used their threads to pull an arsenal of their own to themself.

“A little magic might help,” they said with a smirk, and the pillow in their hand flashed for a moment, and a faint blue glow colored its outline. They tossed it to Hat Kid, and when she caught it, she could feel the slight energy they had infused in it. Her lips curled up wickedly, and she narrowed her eyes at Snatcher.

“Traitor,” Snatcher growled, and with his own magic, he hovered four pillows simultaneously and flung two of them each at his assailants.

Hat Kid batted them away with her pillow, shrieking with laughter. She launched herself at Snatcher again, this time opting to grab onto him first. She latched onto his back like a monkey and with one hand smacked him repeatedly with Moonjumper’s special pillow. “Hahaha! Take that!”

“Agh! You little leech!” Snatcher twisted around, trying to toss her off. Moonjumper grinned as they continued their attack.

Snatcher, even with Hat Kid whacking him, managed to fire a tidal wave of the pillows on to Moonjumper, burying them temporarily and giving himself some reprieve. With another lurch, he bucked Hat Kid into the air and wrapped himself around her so she couldn’t move her arms.

“Ahh! Moonjumper! I need back up!” she hollered, squirming to get free again.

“Nope, I have a hostage!” Snatcher shouted.

“I’ll save you!” Moonjumper burst out from under the pillows, using them to barrage Snatcher in return.

Even with their help, Hat Kid couldn’t fight her way out. Snatcher held her secure, ducking his head under the rain of pillows. “Okay, I give up,” she whispered to him, tapping him on the arm. Immediately, he relented, uncoiling himself and letting her tumble out. As soon as she was free, Hat Kid popped back onto her feet and turned on him with manic glee. “Just kidding! I lied!” and both she and Moonjumper teamed up to overwhelm him.

“Oh you’re really gonna get it this time, kid!” But it was too late. They managed to cover him entirely under the mountain.

The room was quiet for a second. Then Snatcher’s head pushed out from under the stack. He gave her a deadpan stare.

“Who taught you to fight dirty like that?”

“Uh, you, duh.”

He grinned. “Oh that’s right.” He propped his head up with one hand. “No wonder you’re so good at it.”

Hat Kid stumbled over and flopped down against the slope of the pillow stack. “I’m pooped,” she said, panting. “But that was fun!”

“And the room’s a mess already, what did I tell you,” Snatcher said, slithering his way back out.

“I’ll clean it tomorrow. Promise.” Hat Kid draped an arm over her eyes. But first, a nap. Someone draped a blanket over her, and the surrounding pillows shuffled to nestle her more securely. They hadn’t gotten to the bed yet, but for now, this was plenty comfortable.

* * *

Moonjumper finished adjusting the pillows after Snatcher tucked the old quilt over Hat Kid. The two of them watched her for a moment. It didn’t take long for her to knock out, having exerted herself quite a bit the entire day. Now that she was asleep, Snatcher’s expression had become subdued as he lingered over her. Moonjumper sighed inwardly. It was now or never.

“Snatcher.”

His eyes darted up to them before flicking away again. “What?”

“I think we should talk.”

As they expected, his body language closed off. “Should we?”

“Please don’t make this more difficult than it needs to be. We really do need to talk about...about the other day.”

“Why?” Snatcher asked, dragging a hand down his face.

“Do you really think that we resolved everything? Surely there must be things you wanted to say to me.”

He snorted. “Hah, not really. To be honest, it sounds like you’re the one with something to say."

Moonjumper shook their head, already exasperated but trying to keep their patience. They glanced over at Hat Kid, breathing deep and steady with her arm still covering her face. “Why don’t we go down below?”

Snatcher didn’t say anything for several seconds, and Moonjumper was just starting to think he was ignoring them when he sank down slowly through the floor. They followed him to the first level.

He draped himself in his armchair, leaning heavily on one side. Moonjumper hovered across from him near his shelf. 

“So you wanted to talk.” Snatcher swept a languid hand out:  _ go on then. _

“I wanted us to talk  _ to each other, _ ” said Moonjumper. "You know, a healthy mutual discussion?" They grimaced, trying to gather their courage. “I suppose, to start, I wanted to apologize. I...shouldn’t have compared you to Vanessa. I know full well how much of a pressure point that is.”

Snatcher shrugged. “You had a point.”

Compared to their normally combative past encounters, this response troubled Moonjumper far more. They were accustomed to his fiery defensiveness. They hoped he wasn’t too dejected about what they’d said. “It was still uncalled for,” they protested. “I was angry, and I was trying to say something that would get to you.”

“Well, you got me.”

He was still stonewalling them, not hostile, just so tired sounding, and the conversation was not going anywhere. They decided to change their tack. “Listen, are you alright? When I spoke to the little one, she seemed to feel your talk turned out very well, and she seemed quite happy about it. But you don’t seem quite so uplifted.”

Snatcher raised an eyebrow. “ _ Am I alright? _ ” He repeated it as though Moonjumper had just made the most bizarre statement on Earth. Just then, it occurred to them: had...anyone ever asked him that? Ever since the Prince died, had anyone asked him that? Moonjumper stared harder the more they thought about it. Even before then,  _ when was the last time either of us have been asked if we’re alright? _

"You still home in there?" Snatcher said.

"Yes," they replied faintly. "Just realized some things. And I think you're avoiding the question." 

Snatcher shrugged again, still walled off. “Why do you even want to know?”

“Maybe because I still care about you?” they burst out. “Even after all the grief you’ve given me for centuries, I still wish we could connect? We could really understand each other and yet this is the most we've ever interacted without open hostility, and only because there’s finally someone we both prioritize over old wounds!”

Their volume had risen, and both of them glanced up at the ceiling to the room above. Moonjumper lowered their voice. "Snatcher, please, can't we work this out? What point is there acting like nothing has changed?"

"I don’t know what you want me to say."

"It’s not about that!" Some frustration bled through, and it was their turn to press their fingers to their temple. "I want to know what's going through your mind. Listen, I-I think you maybe had a panic attack? At first it seemed like you were being so erratic, I didn't understand it until later. I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize it at first, I was too angry. But I remember them. I had them a lot, before.”

“A...panic attack?”

“Yes, it’s what they call it when you get overwhelmed by anxiety-”

“I know what they are, just-” Snatcher cut off, frowning. “Is that what happened?”

“I-I think so. I mean, I can’t know for sure, but, maybe consider it?” If they could just get him to share what he had been experiencing, they could maybe help him confirm it. It would make the whole situation make a lot of sense, why he had turned so rapidly from single minded frenzy to acerbic despair. Moonjumper knew the feeling well--their own emotions entangling them in puppeteering threads and moved their body for them, as though their conscious mind were barely there.

“I guess it does make sense.” Snatcher raised an eyebrow at them. “ _ Had _ them before. You’re saying you’re all good now?”

They rolled their eyes. “I mean, no, I’m not  _ all good. _ I just know how to avoid them better. Since I haven’t spent centuries trying to kill my emotions with fire.”

Snatcher shook his head at them. “I still don’t know how you could just decide to do that. You took a crash course in all of my trauma, how did you turn out so different?”

Moonjumper had thought about that very thing for a long time in their unlife. As they sank deeper into the Prince’s grief, there had been a point when they’d had to make a choice. Either accept that the horrible event had been, if not inevitable, then far beyond their power to stop and show themself the requisite compassion, or take Snatcher’s route and divorce themself from everything that had made them human, including hope and progress toward a better future. Seeing where their counterpart had gone, Moonjumper had chosen the former path instead.

“Well. I had you,” they said.

“Pff. Me? I wanted nothing to do with you, once you so gracefully revealed your true identity. Pretty sure I attacked you when you told me that.”

They cringed at the reminder at how they had originally broached the subject with him those many years ago. “Right, but still, at the very least I had an idea of what I didn’t want my grief to turn me into.”

Snatcher narrowed his eyes, deadpan. “You’re a real charmer, you know. A real business ambassador.”

Moonjumper gave him a long-suffering look. “I wasn’t finished. What I mean to say is, even indirectly, you were there to give me guidance for how to process that trauma. Negative guidance is still guidance after all. You didn’t know it, but you helped me realize I had a choice. But what I realized a little while ago is you...you didn’t have anyone. You had to find your way alone.”

Snatcher stared hard at them for a while. “What are you saying?”

Moonjumper fidgeted with their fingers. “I’m saying...what I’m trying to say is maybe you don’t have to anymore?”

Extended silence. The clock ticked.

“Look, I’m not asking you to see me as a friend, I know you can’t force that sort of thing. But at least I could listen to-I could be-oh I don’t know. You know what, never mind. It was a stupid thing to say.” They exhaled heavily.

"Oh," he said. "No, I mean-" Snatcher actually looked sheepish.

Moonjumper leaned forward. They had been expecting an outright rejection.

Snatcher sighed, slouching back into the chair. “I mean, I get it. I’m bad at the feelings thing.” He sounded so genuinely dejected, Moonjumper had to fight the urge to offer comfort. They suspected he would only read it as pity. They opted for reason.

“It takes practice. It’s not going to happen overnight. If you keep pushing things down, the little one is sharp. Eventually she’s going to see through your facade, and the way she is, will start wondering what she’s done wrong.”

That certainly got Snatcher’s attention. If Moonjumper were the manipulative sort, they could have played that card all day. Hat Kid currently had Snatcher wrapped around her little finger; he would do anything for her sake, possibly to the point of self-destruction, which was what was worrying Moonjumper at the moment. 

"You could start by trying to talk about what you were feeling," they prompted, when he still seemed a bit dazed.

"Isn't the problem that I'm  _ bad _ at doing that?" Snatcher groused.

"Doing it badly with me is the first step to doing it better with her. The stakes are low if you explain yourself badly here, but things won't start making sense unless you try it in the first place."

"Hrghh alright…" Snatcher’s gaze drifted down to the floor, and he picked at a loose thread on the armchair with a claw. Another extended silence followed. Moonjumper sat more comfortably in it than before. They were starting to realize that he needed long stretches of time to sort out his emotions before he even started talking about them. They could empathize. In the beginning, it was hard to sort everything out, with all the feelings flooding them at once. After they had decided to accept their current reality, they learned how to face down the rushing tide and pluck out each feeling one by one, redirecting them into a more orderly stream that could be examined effectively. It hadn’t been a comfortable learning experience.

"At least, could you start with why you were so resigned when we reached the forest?" they suggested.

The question did seem to focus him a bit. "It was fear,” he managed to say after a while. “Even the possibility of losing her...I couldn't take it. It was close enough when she...when she got hurt that one time. Heh, you saw right through me then. I never wanted to hurt her.” Snatcher looked up at the ceiling. “Even imagining the worst case scenario, I…” He sighed. “You were right. I lost it. I don’t even know what I was thinking, I just…”

“You lost control,” Moonjumper said, though they didn’t intend it as an accusation. “It was like someone else was taking over. Pulling the strings, as you will.”

Snatcher narrowed his eyes at them.

“Speaking from experience,” Moonjumper added hastily, before he could get any wrong ideas. “Believe me, I do know how it feels. It’s like you’re turning into someone else, and all you can do is watch yourself from the inside.”

He nodded slowly. “Yeah. Exactly that, actually. I couldn’t even think about losing her. It was just too familiar. I couldn’t.”

"I'm quite certain you had a panic attack, now," Moonjumper said. "No wonder you were struggling." They fiddled with a loose thread they had summoned. "I'm sorry," they said with a sigh. "I should have handled it differently. I know you may not believe me, but I was truly just as worried as you, though. I wasn't quite thinking clearly either."

Snatcher scoffed. "Clearly enough to get us to where we needed to be. I couldn't have…" He trailed off.

"Alone? I couldn't either, honestly. There are a lot of things I can do, but teleporting isn't one of them. I think that's the point. Whatever this is won’t work if we keep trying to do things separately."

"What, are you suggesting co-parenting-" Snatcher slapped a hand over his mouth, eyes going round.

Moonjumper’s eyebrows shot up. A slow, toothy grin spread across their face. Snatcher pointed at them.

"Shut up! Shut up!" he hissed, but it was too late. They were already failing to stifle their snickering. "It was a slip of the tongue!"

" _ Was it? _ " Moonjumper wheezed. "Why don’t I believe you? Maybe it’s because your face is glowing purple?" They had to bite on their sleeve to stop from howling loud enough to wake Hat Kid.

"I'll set you on fire, I swear I will!"

They flapped a hand at him, still laughing. "Keep it down! And I know you won’t. Your  _ child _ will be mad at you if you do."

Snatcher covered his face with his hands. "You’re the worst, I regret everything."

"No, you don’t," they said in a sing-song. "And really, there’s no reason to be embarrassed. Are you really going to deny that you’re starting to see yourself as her parent?"

“Well, what am I supposed to think? I really am not cut out for it. Haven’t been for centuries, if you hadn’t noticed. You really think she should have someone like me for a-a  _ father _ ?"

Moonjumper managed to compose themself. “I think it matters more what she thinks about it.”

Snatcher drew back, bunching inward. “She doesn’t see me like that.”

“How do you know? Did you ask her?”

"She already said she doesn’t need me to take care of her. And why would she? I haven’t exactly been someone she can really trust to look after her."

"That’s not a rejection, you know. Maybe she doesn’t see you like that because you haven’t offered her the option. But you’ve been putting her to bed for months and you’ve literally made room for her in your life just now. How do you think she’ll see you if you actually asked?”

He stared at them. “Come on, let's be real here. How could I even? I don’t know anything about parenting.”

“No more or less than me. We have about the same level of experience with that. Didn’t seem to stop the Prince from wanting it. Why should it stop you?” They lowered their eyes. “Or me.”

“I…Do you…?”

“Do I what? Want to be her parent?" It was so long ago. The Prince and Vanessa had been planning. At the time, he’d been too naive to worry about ability. There had only been excitement. Moonjumper themself hadn’t truly entertained the idea consciously until then, as much as they’d tried to dissociate themself from the memories of the Prince. But when they thought about it, it was clear they didn’t see Hat Kid as being their  _ friend _ so much. The way they needed to look after her, to protect her and smooth out the path in front of her…“Yes, I think I do.”

“Oh.”

"So were  _ you _ being serious? About being a father? Or was it really just a slip of the tongue?"

"I-" He grumbled, rubbing the back of his neck. "I mean, well, yes? I-I do. Yeah."

"But?" Since there was so obviously a "but."

"I don’t know...I’m-I mean does it not terrify you? I don’t want to screw up. Again."

"I don’t know if we can avoid it. I don’t think that should stop you."

"Easy for you to say. You’ve never made her mad or hurt her feelings. You’re the one she goes to for comfort when  _ I _ do."

"Oh, no she was rather cross with me earlier for telling you you were as bad as Vanessa. She seemed quite defensive, it was rather cute."

"I-she what? Agh, forget it, that’s different. You never said that to  _ her. _ " His tail lashed about, and he was blushing again though.

Moonjumper chuckled. "My point is that we're both going to make mistakes. Show yourself some compassion."

"Compassion…" He said it as though it was another foreign concept.

"Yes, Snatcher. You ought to try it sometime."

He made a noncommittal noise, still looking a bit embarrassed. Moonjumper refrained from teasing him further. As amusing as it was to prod him about being a big softie for Hat Kid, they didn't want to put him off opening up further by mocking him. They had promised they were a safe person for him to be clumsy about his feelings with.

Snatcher glanced up at the room above and floated up and Moonjumper followed. Hat Kid had kicked off her blanket and sprawled the pillows around her, her mouth hanging open. She had contorted herself over the remaining pillows like a pretzel. Moonjumper tsked fondly as Snatcher picked her up, cradling her in one arm. They gathered up the pillows again to make them more suitable for her to sleep on.

"She still needs a bed," they said. "The pillow mountain is no good for proper sleep. She'll wake up stiff."

"I still don’t know what she wants. She fell asleep before she could say." Snatcher held her for a little longer before putting her back onto Moonjumper’s rearranged pillow nest.

"Why don’t we just surprise her?"

"We? You’re really intent on helping?"

"Yes! Wouldn’t it be nice to come from the both of us?"

"Mm, I suppose it’s probably better that way," he muttered.

The two of them wandered back out to where the Subconites had left their piles of raw materials. Snatcher stared down at it, holding a hand to his chin in contemplation. Then, he held out a hand and purple and yellow smoke began to swirl around it. The materials glowed and stretched into beams of iridescent light, blending into a blob of rainbow. He lifted it and started to shape it, then paused and raised an eyebrow at Moonjumper, canting his head to indicate they should jump in.

Spurred on, they summoned their threads, spinning them around the ball of color. The red strings glowed silver and blue as they melded in, and Moonjumper could sense Snatcher’s intent. They wove their magic around his, accenting it and suffusing their creation with their love for their child. When the glow dissipated, the two of them surveyed their handiwork. Snatcher had crafted the frame of the bed: a round nestlike shape, with black branches arching over it in a sheltering bower. Moonjumper’s addition added blue woven flowers through the branches and a sheer canopy curtaining the sides. Both of their accents were clearly visible in its design.

Beside them, Snatcher seemed pleased, though he had dropped down lower onto the ground, a bit bowed over.

"Are you sure you’re alright? You’ve been looking a little worn out this evening." It reminded them of the night they had to find him by the tower when he had his breakdown, and he could barely hold himself up.

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." Snatcher made an effort to straighten up.

"Don’t put me off if you’re really not!"

He hesitated, then slouched back down again. "It’s fine. I just burned a lot of magic today."

"Are you sure?" It seemed like he was hiding something.

"I mean, I'll replenish faster if I grabbed a little soul, but something tells me you wouldn’t like that." He smiled crookedly.

"Hmm, no, but if you’re fatigued, you shouldn’t overdo it." They pondered his implication. "When have you last had a soul anyway?"

"Several weeks ago? A while. Not since before the kid’s, uh, accident."

"Ohh. It makes sense why you were so exhausted the other night." How much would he push himself if they hadn’t brought it up? "I can help with that too, you know, if you need a boost."

"It’s  _ fine, _ " he said, a bit through his teeth. Okay, he was getting defensive, maybe time to ease up a bit. They backed off, holding their hands up placidly.

Snatcher snapped his fingers and the two of them plus the bed warped up into Hat Kid’s room. Moonjumper picked her up to allow him to nestle the bed into the center of the pillow mound. They settled her onto the dark purple mattress and draped the quilt over her. Hat Kid shuffled and yawned, snuggling into the blanket, looking much more comfortable.

The two of them hovered over her for a moment before Moonjumper gave Snatcher a nod. "I'll let you be then. I'll come back when she wakes."

One day, they hoped that they might coexist together for longer, but they had made strides in their relationship with Snatcher. This was the most amicable and comfortable their interactions had ever been. Perhaps one day there would be room in his life for them too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A full dad. An entire father.


	12. The plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hat Kid takes matters into her own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Uploading a touch early today. Had an exhausting weekend. There was a hurricane that almost hit us D: very scary. But all is well, we got very lucky.
> 
> I'm going to keep the updates weekly as that will let me have more time to edit and also maybe draw some pictures for the story. Even though I'm so impatient to upload the chapters...

After she woke up, Hat Kid didn’t bother using the vine ramp that Snatcher had built leading up to her room. She jumped out the threshold, using her umbrella to parachute to the first level where he was currently sitting in his usual spot with a book. Bouncing off the edge of the entranceway, she careened into him, sending the book flying and wrapping her arms around him in a bonecrushing hug.

“The bed! I love it, I love it, I love it!”

“Ack, kid! A little warning next time!” He levitated his book back into his hand, smoothing out the creased pages, but he leaned into her embrace.

“Sorry,” she said with a giggle.

“Glad you like it. Well, Skywalker over here maybe helped a bit.”

Hat Kid craned her head around, only just now realizing that Moonjumper was perched on the table, their threads wrapped around their arms as they focused on weaving a shimmering indigo blanket that reminded Hat Kid of starlight.

“Are you ever going to call me by my actual name?” they said, only looking up from their work to smile at Hat Kid.

“We’re not there yet, I haven’t run out of nicknames,” Snatcher shot back.

Her mouth formed an O at the sight of them, and she turned back to Snatcher.

“Are you two hanging out now?” she whispered.

“Eeeehhh, I guess. They keep coming around.”

“I’m making a blanket on your table,” Moonjumper said dryly. “How much more domestic could it be?”

Snatcher only grumbled in response. Hat Kid released him and hopped over to the table to see Moonjumper’s creation. The fabric was silky yet soft, like touching a cloud, and it sparkled gently in the firelight of the hollow.

“This will be for you,” they said while she marveled at the craftsmanship.

Her eyes widened. “For me? Wow! It’s so pretty.” She ran her hand down the length of it. Hat Kid leaned in closer to them. “He calls you Moonjumper when you’re not around,” she told them under her breath, and though they didn’t look up, their face tightened up as they suddenly had to suppress a burst of laughter.

“What was that?” Snatcher said from across the room.

“Nothing!” 

“Sure sounds like a something.”

Hat Kid was about to quip in return but cut herself off when she saw above the armchair that he had hung up the array of drawings he had taken from her the day before. He glanced up at her silence, and then followed her gaze upward. Once he saw what she’d been staring at, his eyes darted back to his book. Hat Kid swore he looked a bit brighter than usual. Was he...blushing? She covered her mouth with her hands, tucking her head, feeling rather sheepish herself.

Moonjumper finally paused in their weaving and noticed the two of them. “What are you two goofs doing?”

“Reading, obviously,” Snatcher said, glaring determinedly at his book.

“You really like my pictures that much?” Hat Kid asked in a small voice.

“Oh!” They reached into their cloak and pulled out the ones they had kept and held them out in front of them. “Of course! If I had a place to display them, I would as well.”

“Yeah, they-they’re real sweet, kiddo,” Snatcher said softly.

Hat Kid kept staring at her pictures on the wall. Not that they were deep secrets, but she had drawn them as personal little memories and wishes--feelings she had wanted to hold onto. The fact that both of them seemed so enamored with her art made her wonder what kind of feelings they had about it? Did it mean that they shared those wishes too? Was that why Snatcher was being so weird about them? She wanted to ask, but she wasn’t sure if he would want to talk about it with Moonjumper there. A lot had changed between the three of them recently. In a lot of ways, it was good, but in a lot of other ways, she wasn’t sure what to make of it.

“I’m gonna go hang out in the forest,” she said, already bouncing back out the door toward the path.

Unexpectedly, Snatcher put his book down and followed her. “Where to, kiddo?”

“Oh! Um, I dunno, probably the village. But I was just going to wander around first.” It wasn’t that she didn’t want him to join her, but it caught her by surprise. He usually let her do her own thing, preferring to sit in peace with his reading, but again, everything had turned on its head in the last couple of days.

“I’ll be sure to rearrange all your furniture while you’re gone,” called Moonjumper.

Snatcher turned his head back, growling. “Do it, and see what happens.”

“Not a very good threat,” they said, shaking their head. They looked up and waved to Hat Kid. “Have fun, my dear!”

She waved back and continued skipping deeper into the woods. Snatcher muttered under his breath about Moonjumper but soon hovered up alongside her. She and Moonjumper had their usual route through the forest, and Hat Kid let her feet guide her on the well-trodden path, occasionally deviating to bounce on the mushrooms on the side of the trail.

“Play hard, then sleep hard must be your motto, huh, kid?” Snatcher drifted up the path as Hat Kid criss-crossed it, parkour-hopping between trees, and swinging from branch to branch.

“I like my ship a lot,” she said, breathless as she dangled from a branch that she had been swinging from with her hook. “But I spent a  _ long _ time on it. And sometimes-” She disengaged the griphook and plummeted to the ground, opening up the umbrella to break the fall. Snatcher flinched and reached a hand out to catch her before realizing she was drifting gently down onto his palm. “Sometimes I just get so much energy that I feel like I’m going to explode if I don’t run really hard.”

Snatcher lifted her up in his hand, grimacing. “I couldn’t tell. Do you always have to get down from trees like that?”

Hat Kid laughed. “Don’t worry, I got it. As long as I got my umbrella!” She held it up, pointing it to the sky.

Snatcher let her hop back down to the ground. “You remember your Accident was because you fell, right?”

Her smile faded at the sight of his sober expression. “That was different. I blacked out before I remember even getting to react. It was a weird time rift dimension. Physics gets all wonky there.” She patted his hand, realizing that she was not making him any less concerned. “I’ll be more careful.”

“Good.”

He had outright admitted that he worried about her, but it still caught her off guard to actually see it in practice. Almost made her wonder how she could have been unsure about it in the past. Then again, he really hadn’t been this open about it.

She still hung onto his hand as they traveled at a more sedate pace through the forest. Hat Kid checked her transponder for the local time. It was still mid-morning. Why did it seem darker than usual? Subcon was always dark, with the murk from the flames and other magical interference blotting out the sun, but something about the scenery flagged her memory. Hat Kid squinted off through the trees, trying to spot the difference.

“Oh!”

“What’s up, kiddo?”

“The fires! They’re smaller. I was trying to figure out why it was darker here than I remember.”

“Hm…” Snatcher extended his arm out, beckoning for her to climb up. She obliged, clambering to her perch on his shoulder, and they flew off the path and deeper into the woods. They approached the line of flames, which normally blazed as a formidable wall around the perimeter of the path but now could easily be circumvented by hopping or a slightly higher step.

“I need to check something,” he said, lifting an arm to secure Hat Kid in place, before picking up speed and zooming through the trees. The wind whizzed through her hair, flapping her cape. It was unusual for him to travel like this, rather than just dropping them both into the shadows. That, combined with the dwindling flames, planted a seed of worry in her core. A hypothesis formed in her mind as to what they were going to check.

Sure enough, they arrived at the village, and a cluster of the Subconites who hung out there regularly leaped to their feet with a chorus of “Boss! Newbie!”

The seed of worry germinated as Hat Kid took note of the crusting of ice that had crawled across the village from the direction of the river. It was clearly what Snatcher had been looking for too, as he floated over it, a growl rumbling through him.

“Sorry, Boss, we tried cleaning it like you wanted us to, but it keeps coming back!” one of the Subconites said. “We do one section and then another section fills in. And when we do that one, the one we just cleaned fills back in again.”

Snatcher touched a hand to the frosty earth. “I know.” His hand glowed yellow, and the light spread across the ground. The ice sheet steadily melted away in response, the effect still propagating even after he lifted his hand. The ring of yellow rippled out and away from him, and the silvery sheen that coated the half of the village faded away to its more natural browns and purples. The larger ice pillars that had been present remained, but those had been fixtures even when Hat Kid first visited Subcon.

Snatcher huffed a few times, clenching and unclenching his hand. Hat Kid frowned at the gesture, remembering their conversation about souls. He said he needed them to keep the village thawed. If he had to power all the flames in the forest all the time, it made sense why he needed so much energy. Not to mention, he’d implied he was holding back from taking any more souls for her sake. 

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Huh? Sure am, kid. What, not afraid of a little ice, are you?” He nudged her. “I told you, don’t worry about it.”

Hmph. A bit of a double-standard for him to tell her not to worry about him, when he apparently worried about her all the time. The fragment of an idea that had flitted across her mind when they first talked about him guarding the forest against Vanessa now crossed her mind again, this time with more urgency.

“Snatcher, I have a question.”

“Just the one? Doubtful.”

“Quit joking around, I’m being serious!”

“Okay, okay, go for it, kiddo.”

“Um,” she rapped her knuckles together, “how come you let the queen stay in the forest?” It was a sensitive question, she knew, but a plan was taking shape in her head, and it clamored for an answer.

Snatcher, and even the surrounding minions fell dead silent. Hat Kid hoped she hadn’t made him too upset by asking about it.

“Sorry, I know that’s really personal.”

“Uh, heh, I should be more afraid when you announce that you have questions. You really know how to go for the kill.”

“Sorry…”

He reached up to her, and she took his hand again. “No, I mean…” He sighed. “I need to get better at this,” he said under his breath. “It’s not so much I let her stay, more that...I can’t get her out. Embarrassing, isn’t it? I haven’t even been back to the manor. I can’t…”

That was all she needed to know. A sense of protectiveness swelled in her heart--and anger toward Vanessa. “It’s not embarrassing,” she said. It made perfect sense for him to be afraid of facing someone who had hurt him like that. Yet if he stopped fighting it, the whole forest would freeze, and maybe it wouldn’t even stop there. Maybe he was keeping Vanessa’s ice from getting to the world beyond too. He was trapped between that responsibility and not being able to stop her directly. And now, if he wasn’t eating souls because he was taking care of Hat Kid…If he couldn’t stop the forest from freezing over, or worse, fight off Vanessa if it came to it, it was all because of  _ her. _

Snatcher interrupted her thoughts. “Did you still want to play in the village?”

“No...that’s okay. We can go back.”

“You sure, kid?”

“Yeah, it’s not so comfy with all the ice around.”

“I got rid of most of it already.”

“No, it’s alright.” She clung tighter to his hand.

“Right, okay, let’s go.” Snatcher swept out of the village, and they took the scenic route back to the hollow again.

“You know my pictures?” she asked, breaking the silence as they traveled.

“What about ‘em?”

Hm. How to actually word this? She had already asked him a really blunt, personal question earlier. Even though he said it was alright, it still felt a bit nosy. “Do you really like them?”

“No, I always hang up stuff that I hate where I can see it all the time.”

She frowned. That didn’t sound right. “Are you being sarcastic again?”

He shook his head with a laugh. “Yeah, kid. Why would I put it up if I didn’t like them?”

“I don’t know, you’re weird sometimes.”

An aborted noise escaped his throat before he fell silent.  _ Okay, you got me, _ said his silence. “Why do you ask?” he said instead.

“I don’t know, you were kind of acting embarrassed before. I just didn’t want you to take them if you didn’t actually want them. It won’t hurt my feelings. They’re just scribbles.” It would hurt her feelings a little bit, but she would understand. They really weren’t her best work, and again, kind of vulnerable.

“I wouldn’t take them if I didn’t want them, kid.” They floated along a little ways more. “I didn’t mean to act embarrassed.”

Clearly he had some kind of complicated feelings about it. In contrast, Moonjumper openly adored the art. Maybe it was more of that stuff Snatcher had a hard time talking about. A little guilt pinched at Hat Kid. She  _ had _ made him deal with a lot of personal stuff really fast, and he was still obviously really tired, even though he was kind of being a doofus and hiding it from her.

Stupid pecking Vanessa. It was her fault that he had such a hard time with it. Even Moonjumper. They weren’t as bottled up as Snatcher was, but they still clearly got sad and thoughtful too, and also hid their worries from Hat Kid. They were her friends. They didn’t deserve this, not when she could do something about it.

Hat Kid removed the reins from her plan, letting it take shape in her head. It was going to be tricky, since she’d have to keep it a secret. She needed to do a lot of research too. If she played her cards right, though, she could definitely pull it off, and then Snatcher would never have to be afraid of that Vanessa ever again.

* * *

“I don’t know, Snatcher. It could be a lot of fun.” Moonjumper and Snatcher were hovering in the flight deck of Hat Kid’s ship, with the former attempting to help Hat Kid convince Snatcher to accompany them both on a fun outing.

It was partially a ruse. Hat Kid had been furiously tinkering with a time rift device for days, struggling to deflect their suspicions in the meantime. It was getting a little exhausting, splitting her time between hanging out in the forest long enough to seem natural, staying up late with a light on under the magically soft blanket Moonjumper had woven for her to read theoretical time physics books, and actually building the machine that was central to her plan. Even with all her efforts, both Snatcher and Moonjumper were starting to wonder what was up, and eventually Hat Kid “relented” and “admitted” that she was feeling stir crazy and wanted to have another adventure. Inviting them both seemed like a nice compromise, so that they wouldn’t have to be worried about what she was getting up to while she was out.

“Leaving the forest and interacting with people who  _ aren’t _ stuck in my traps? Doubt it.” Snatcher faced the window, staring down at the planet with his arms crossed.

“Pleeeease, Snatcher? I like it when all three of us get to hang out.” It didn’t seem like his problem was Moonjumper anymore. The two of them seemed to be on, if not friendly, then at least peaceful terms.

His shoulders slumped, and he looked at her via their reflection in the glass. “Would you even want me there? I might scare everyone we meet.”

“Couldn’t you transform?” She frowned. Hopefully that wasn’t something that took a lot of his strength.

“Ugh, I guess…”

“Oh, my dear, it’s not exactly something he likes-” Moonjumper started quietly, but Snatcher immediately shifted before they could finish.

“Nope! It’s fine, there.” He was Prince-shaped now, though still standing cross-armed at the window.

“Wait, you don’t have to if you don’t like it. You just told me last time you did it when it’s convenient, so I thought-”

“It’s  _ fine, _ kid, don’t worry about it.” Snatcher shot a look at Moonjumper.

“Soo, does that mean you’re coming with us?” she asked.

“Yeah, I guess I am,” Snatcher said with a sigh. “Since you asked so nicely,” he added.

Hat Kid thought for a moment. “Wait, I have an idea.” She dashed down the hall into one of her other rooms where she kept her spare yarns. She hooked it up to the designer machine and tweaked some of the old designs she had, changing up the sizing and colors to be more fitting. When she hit create, the machine whirred and unspooled the yarn, stitching the fabric together according to the pattern she created. Hat Kid pulled out the finished creation. She used this to make custom clothes with the materials she had gathered on her adventures, though she lacked the ability to infuse it with magical abilities the way Moonjumper and Snatcher could. Hat Kid ran back out to the flight deck, trailing the dark purple cloak behind her.

When she returned, Snatcher and Moonjumper were standing closer, conversing in low tones.

“-can make a barrier if you’re worried,” Moonjumper was saying.

“Might have to...I-” Snatcher jerked up when he heard Hat Kid re-enter.

“What’re you talking bout?” Hat Kid asked, running over to Snatcher and tossing the cloak over his shoulders.

“Whoa, what’s this, kid?” He caught the ends of the cloak and held them in place around him. Hat Kid stood on her toes and pointed at the fasteners on the cloak, which she had emblazoned with his face to match his official seal. “And nothing, just boring grown-up stuff.”

“It’s a coat! I made it with a hood, so you can cover your head and feel more ghosty.” She resisted the urge to pout that they were obviously hiding something from her, especially since she thought she heard Moonjumper say “worried.” It occurred to her that maybe the forest would get more frozen if Vanessa spread her ice some more. Maybe she shouldn’t have pressured him so much to come along. But she couldn’t tell him not to now without making a whole fuss about it, especially right after she had made a whole fuss to convince him to go in the first place.

Snatcher fastened the clasps and pulled the hood up, tucking his arms under the folds of the cloak. He still looked rather ominous with his eyes and mouth glowing from the shadows of the cowl, but not nearly as outright terrifying as his normal form would be to a crowd of regular people. Plus, it wasn’t that different from the nomads from the Skyline. “Huh. Thanks, kiddo. It’s...it’s nice.”

Hat Kid examined Moonjumper. “It doesn’t seem fair to only give Snatcher a new outfit,” she mused.

Moonjumper tilted their head. “I’m quite alright.”

“No, wait, hang on.” Hat Kid dashed back out again to fiddle with her machine. By the time she was done, she had dressed Moonjumper in a dapper purple jacket that replaced their normal crimson cloak. Hat Kid had swapped out her normal adventuring outfit to a re-dyed version with darker purple and sparkling gold accents. She surveyed her handiwork and did a fist-pump. The three of them now sported matching color schemes. “Yeahhh!! Now we’re looking ready for a night on the town!”

Moonjumper twirled around, posing in their new outfit. Snatcher huddled under the shelter of his cloak, but his own pleased smile shone out from underneath. Hat Kid grinned. She should dress them more often. After all, they both made her pretty gifts, so she ought to return the favor. Who didn’t want to be stylish?

“I need to take care of something quickly in Subcon before we head out,” Moonjumper said. “I’ll just pop down there for a moment.”

“Okay!” said Hat Kid, pretending not to have any idea what they were talking about. It took a few minutes, which Hat Kid spent bouncing impatiently around the flight deck until Snatcher placed a hand on her head to slow her down.

“Save your energy, kiddo.”

Hat Kid’s feet continued to tap, in lieu of the bouncing. “I’ve got plenty.”

Soon enough, Moonjumper returned, giving Snatcher a glance that was not as sneaky as they probably wanted. They all went over to the teleporter, and Hat Kid punched in the coordinates and with a boop, hit the launch button, and they warped away.

They landed on the pier of a beachside town. Hat Kid hadn’t ventured there on her first visit to the planet. None of her time pieces had fallen there, but she had caught sight of it on her telescope scans and longed to visit for ages. Their sudden arrival startled a few of the nearby tourists, several of whom had cotton candy, lemonade and other treats.

"Ooh where did you get those?" she asked.

The tourists in question shied away. "Uh, down that way." They pointed farther down the pier where a cluster of market stalls sparkled in the evening light, before shuffling away nervously. Hat Kid looked up and noticed Snatcher was looming behind her.

"Snatcher! Are you being creepy on purpose?"

He grinned down at her. "What, can’t I have my fun too?"

"As long as it doesn’t get us kicked out," she said with a shrug. "Let’s go get some candy!" She sprinted off down the pier, leaving Snatcher and Moonjumper to hasten after her.

Within a few short minutes, she had spent a handful of pons and acquired an armload of sweets. Snatcher and Moonjumper had to hold some of her drinks, as she had created a wobbling stack of the goodies.

“Are you sure you’re not going to give yourself a stomach ache?” Moonjumper asked as the three of them plopped down on a bench overlooking the bay. A few small gray clouds dotted the otherwise open sky, tiny stars flickering above them. It was as though Moonjumper had draped their blanket over the entire world.

“Ahh, let the kid gorge herself,” Snatcher said. “How often do you get this many sweets?”

Hat Kid paused with a mouthful of sugar. Well, all the time really. No one told her what not to eat, so she ate whatever tasted good.

“O-kay, don’t say I didn’t warn you if you end up groaning tomorrow,” said Moonjumper.

That did make Hat Kid slow down a bit. She was no stranger to candy-sickness, and she needed to be in top form for her plan to go off without a hitch--and it  _ needed _ to go off without a hitch. She had to get this right so that she could save the forest  _ and _ not worry Snatcher and Moonjumper. “Okay, I’ll pack some of these. It’s too bad you can’t have some. I would share it. They’re really tasty.”

“Don’t remind me,” said Snatcher. He smiled crookedly out at the open sea. “It’s been a good while, but sometimes I still remember the taste of-”

“-bacon,” Moonjumper and he said simultaneously.

Hat Kid remembered the note Vanessa had left in the manor. Did the Prince even get to have any of his favorite food for a while before he died? Her resolve strengthened. Well, she couldn’t give them bacon back, but she could at least free them from the constant looming presence of the queen.

After packing away the leftover snacks, they returned to the line of shops where people were playing fair games. Hat Kid set her sights on an adorable stuffed bird, huge and round and orange, dangling from the ceiling of one of the stalls. She had to knock over a stack of heavy clay jars to win. Seemed easy enough, but when she lobbed the ball, only the top jar toppled over while the other two at the base wobbled but didn’t fall.

“Sorry, kid, you gotta knock them all over three times to get the bird,” the attendant told her.

“Who’re you calling ‘kid?’” She heard Snatcher mutter, sounding affronted.

“You call me that all the time,” she whispered back.

“Yeah,  _ I _ call you that.” Oh. She stifled a giggle. He was jealous again. Snatcher nudged her in the shoulder. “Why don’t you give it another go?”

“Three times seems like a lot,” Hat Kid said, already looking forlornly at the bird toy, so high out of her reach. “I thought I had the last one, but those jars are so heavy.”

“I’ve got a good feeling about your next couple shots,” Snatcher said.

“Well, okay.” She handed over another set of pons. The attendant exchanged them for another set of balls. Taking careful aim again, she launched it with all her strength. Again, the wobbling was enough to send the top jar tumbling, but it seemed like the bottom two were about to settle back down again but something kept them spinning. Hat Kid thought she caught a flash of yellow glow around them as they suddenly pitched over.

“Huh, nice shot, kid.” The attendant peered at her and then at her companions. Snatcher was probably making a face again behind her because they suddenly averted their eyes back to her. Moonjumper had been oddly quiet. “Heh, well I guess you have two more shots to try and win a better prize.”

Hat Kid fired again, and then again, and both times, even though physics seemed to suggest that the bottom jars were about to stabilize, something seemed to give them a little extra oomph that knocked them down.

“Hehe, well, you did it, great job, kid!” The attendant hastily handed over the stuffed bird, their voice a little higher pitched than earlier. “Okay, who else wants to play?” they called out to the crowd behind. “Anyone else? Literally anyone.”

Hat Kid trotted off, hugging the too-big stuffed animal to her, flanked by the two spirits. “I’m surprised Moonjumper let you cheat for me,” she told Snatcher.

“Hm?” Moonjumper looked down with wide-eyed innocence. “Oh, I wasn’t watching, so I can neither confirm nor deny whether any cheating happened.”

“HAH!” Snatcher socked them in the shoulder. “Good witness! Anyways, kid, everyone knows these things are rigged, so I was just playing fair.”

Moonjumper smirked at them both, rubbing their shoulder where he’d hit them. “Yes, of course, I don’t condone alleged cheating, but I would never oppose a fair game.”

Hat Kid broke out into a fit of giggles. “You’re both so funny. Well thanks for allegedly not helping me get my bird.”

“If I had done that, I would say don’t mention it, but I didn’t, so I won’t,” Snatcher said.

Hat Kid had to walk at an awkward side-angle to see where she was stepping from around the huge round plush. It made more sense to just put it away in her storage, but she was too pleased to have won it. Sometimes it paid to be friends with a ghost with dubious ethics and another one with much stronger ethics who just conveniently happened to be looking in a different direction.

Overhead, she caught sight of a massive wheel, spinning lazily above the rest of the fairgrounds. Hat Kid watched it carry people up and around into the sky. She bounced up and down to get her friends’ attention. “Let’s go see that!”

Moonjumper turned to follow her gaze. “The Ferris wheel? You don’t have to just see it. You can ride it.”

“Let’s do iiiit!”

They had to walk down the entire line of stalls before they found the entrance to the wheel, it was so enormous. They waited in a short line before the wheel paused to allow them to board. The carriage was enclosed in thick glass, string lights crowning its borders.

“Here, let me hold your bird so you can see,” Moonjumper said, holding their arms out. She handed it off to them--hmm, she needed to name it at some point. Moonjumper sat down across from her and Snatcher, holding the plush off to their side like a little seating companion.

The carriage lurched into motion, making Hat Kid shoot her hands out to steady herself on the walls. An arm wrapped around her shoulder. Snatcher held her close to keep her balanced. He had pulled the hood back at some point, leaving his expression unshadowed once more, and he glanced down and gave her a little smile, one of those soft ones saved only for her. Across from them, Moonjumper held their hands clasped in their lap and was admiring the swirling view, humming quietly as the Ferris wheel carried them all higher and higher.

At several points, the Ferris wheel paused in its rotation as it allowed other passengers to board at its base. Hat Kid pressed her face to the glass, staring out the window in awe. She had seen whole planets from above, but there was something really special about looking down at a single, small town, with the colorful lights twinkling up like stars, the real stars twinkling down from the sweeping black dome of the sky above. The fairgoers were tiny dots, meandering through the trails that curved through the many stalls, and Hat Kid wondered what every single one of them must be thinking at that moment, all of them off in their own little world, oblivious to her curiosity.

She looked back at Snatcher and Moonjumper, and both seemed equally enthralled. Moonjumper caught her eye and grinned, pure, child-like delight sparkling in their face.

“Have you ever been on one of these before?” she asked them.

“No, always wanted to, but I never had the chance. It seemed a bit odd to do as the Badge Seller. It’s better with company, I imagine.”

That probably meant Snatcher never had either. Even though the carriage had long stabilized, he still hadn’t moved his arm. He had been swiveling his head around, as though he couldn’t decide where to focus. The glass carriage offered a 360 view of earth and sky and everything around.

The wheel completed three circuits around the sky before it began unloading the carriages one by one. Moonjumper handed Hat Kid her plush back as they left to walk back along the waterfront.

“Anything else you wanted to do, kiddo?” Snatcher seemed a bit twitchy. He was probably worried about Subcon, even with Moonjumper’s barrier. There were still some things Hat Kid would have wanted to check out, but she had a plan to set in motion too. She feigned a yawn.

“Nah, I’m pretty beat. We can head back.”

He relaxed a bit as she dialed in the coordinates to her transporter, and the three of them zipped back to the forest. When they returned, she placed her new bird friend in the seat of honor beside her bed and let Snatcher and Moonjumper tuck her in. Hat Kid closed her eyes, focusing her attention on what she was going to do next to prevent herself from accidentally falling asleep for real. She cracked an eyelid. The coast was clear.

She crept out and pressed her face at the crack of her doorway, where she could just see through the curtain and listened. Snatcher and Moonjumper were talking quietly. Perfect.

She went back to her bed, taking out the transporter signal again before pausing. It was okay to break a promise if it was for a good reason, wasn’t it? If you’re doing it for people you love? Hat Kid tiptoed over to her art desk. She was supposed to leave, take care of things, and then come back and surprise them before they even noticed she was gone, but...just in case. She picked up a crayon and scribbled out a note.

_ Important mission. Be back soon. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The TAZ: Balance fans, they hate me.


	13. The execution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The plan is set in motion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okey this is kind of an unrefined chapter in the sense that there are some revisions I wanted to make but I was busy with work this week, so I didn't have time, so O Whale. I hope it's not too confusing. Also Snatcher has another panic attack which includes a description of him dissociating. As a rule, I don't get too visceral when describing such things, but just in case, be aware of that! As always, thanks for reading and supporting!

The plan went like this: Once Hat Kid was sure that Snatcher and Moonjumper were distracted by their own conversation, she beamed herself back up to the ship. The time rift device waited for her in the engine room where she had been tinkering with it, under the guise of performing maintenance, since neither of the two would think to bother her there. Hat Kid gave it a once over, doing a final power-on test to make sure it was functioning. She took a deep breath. This was a one-time chance. No accidents. For the sake of Subcon and everyone in it, she was going to get this right.

She changed into her cold-resistance outfit and switched to her Ice Hat. Hat Kid stepped up to her teleporter and hesitated over the navigator, taking another breath before dialing in the coordinates to Vanessa’s manor. After that, it would be a matter of finding Vanessa, and she would have one shot to make it count. Hat Kid hit the launch button and warped back down.

Her feet padded onto the loose snow at the foot of the manor. All the sounds were muffled, the thick coating of white drowning out everything like a great devourer. Even under the warmth of her protective gear, she shivered, her harsh breaths fogging out from her as she stepped toward the secret entrance, eyes peeled for the wandering statues that patrolled the grounds. Hat Kid pulled open the door to the basement, so slowly that the snow swallowed the sound of the creaking too. After she closed it behind her, she waited in the enclosing darkness for her eyes to adjust.

Hat Kid ignored the rusted chains on the wall and waded through the flooded basement straight for the door to the main floor. She crept up the stairs. Everything was just as still and dead as the last time. Her hands that carried the rift device shook, and she focused every ounce of courage she had on remembering what she had come here for. This time, she had to find Vanessa, not run.

If she could sneak up on her and get a surprise shot, all the better. Every creak of the floorboards, every shifting shadow made her flinch and turn. Was her heart beating that loud? Could anyone else hear it? Hat Kid didn’t have forever. If Snatcher or Moonjumper went to check on her and found her missing, they would freak out. But she couldn’t rush either. If she barged into rooms kicking doors down, it was too easy to make a mistake. She continued her creep down the hall, listening at the closed doors she passed.

A clang startled her from around the corner of the hall. Hat Kid jolted, hefting her rift device up and powering it on. It hummed low, but in the quiet, it seemed to echo off every wall. The sound of shuffling approached, and she backed up, preparing to meet her foe. The shuffling grew louder, and around the corner, a silvery object shot out and swiveled in her direction.

It took the greatest willpower not to pull the trigger as she realized in the heat of the moment that it was not Vanessa but-

“A statue!” she yelped. What the peck was one doing in here? No time to think, as the thing turned its sightless attention on her and zipped along the rug toward her. Hat Kid pulled away, sprinting toward the nearest door and flinging it open with a slam, the element of surprise destroyed. She dove under a table, clutching her precious device to her, hitting the power switch again to silence the telltale humming that would give her position away.

The statue ground its way into the room, sliding around the perimeter with a horrible scraping noise of icy stone on stone. The seconds trickled down as it searched, at one point passing right in front of the table she was under. Finally, it swiveled about and pushed its way through the open door and back out of the room. Hat Kid waited in the tense silence, but right before she could breathe a sigh of relief that the coast was clear, the sound of a door opening down the hall made her freeze, and familiar, heavy footsteps trod their way up the corridor.

**“Who is down here?”**

Hat Kid covered her mouth, holding her breath as the footsteps grew louder. It brought back memories of the first encounter in the manor, when hiding was all she could do, and she hadn’t even had any warning of what would come after her. She saw the shadowy form of Vanessa stalk into the room. Despite the fact that she was trembling and light-headed seeing Vanessa so close again, Hat Kid fought to hold her ground. All she had to do was keep her cool and wait it out. The queen wasn’t very observant and would ineffectually search the room before wandering away again, and when her back was turned, Hat Kid could come out and take her shot. She knew the drill.

Even as she repeated this mantra to herself, as Vanessa drew closer, that familiar sheen of ice crept across the floor in an aura around her, and Hat Kid instinctively retreated from it. Her foot pushed out behind her as she pulled herself as far away from Vanessa’s line of sight as she could.

SNAP. A searing lance of pain shot through her foot, blooming up her leg, and a pained cry burst from her lips. Tears pushed their way out of her eyes as she struggled to turn her head and see what had caused it. Through the haze of pain, the sound of footsteps paused, then started up again, faster, louder until something snagged her by the collar and yanked her out from under the table, so hard it strangled her for a second. In her shock, Hat Kid’s grip had loosened on her rift device, and as she was pulled away, under the table it remained.

“No!” Hat Kid reached out for it but it was too late. She looked down at the source of her pain and saw a snapping rat trap crushing her foot through her boot in a vice grip.

**“Little rat.”**

The hand holding Hat Kid up by the collar slowly turned her around so that her eyes met the blazing red ones of Queen Vanessa. Up this close, she could see the matted threads of dirty golden hair, barely visible in the miasma of shadow and frost that radiated from her. Hat Kid shuddered, squeezing her eyes shut and frantically scrabbling at her collar to try and loosen Vanessa’s grip, but the force of the queen’s power disoriented her and left her flailing uselessly in the air, tears freezing in their track down her face.

**“I remember you.”**

Vanessa’s other hand clamped around her neck. Despite the protection of the dress, crystals of ice had already coated Hat Kid. But it wasn’t the ice itself that hurt. It was no ordinary cold. Through Vanessa’s very touch, blades of pure bitterness, hatred, rage pierced straight through Hat Kid’s veins, poison running directly toward her heart. Even as the frost encased the outside of her clothes, her core stayed warm enough to survive, but nothing had prepared her for the utter hopelessness that now paralyzed her--the way that her mind and heart chilled and slowed, as if all will to continue drained away, froze.

The frozen tears that stuck to Hat Kid’s face stung her cheeks as her vision started blacking out. This couldn’t be it. One stupid mistake? Her mind screamed at her body to move, move, MOVE but those cries fell on deaf ears. She was supposed to make everything better, and now, because she messed up again, everything was worse.  _ Snatcher...Moonjumper...sorry. _

* * *

After they put Hat Kid to sleep, Moonjumper followed Snatcher down to his room in the hollow. Snatcher doffed the gifted cloak, draping it over the back of his armchair before swiftly changing his form again, stretching his arms out and twisting around as though trying to shake off the last remnants of Prince-ness from himself.

“I’m surprised you never told her you don’t like being that shape before,” Moonjumper said as they watched him. “I didn’t mean to let that slip earlier.” They lingered, partly to see how long they could impose before he would tell them to get lost.

“There wasn’t exactly a good time,” he groused, settling down into his usual spot. He looked more relaxed now that they were back in Subcon. Moonjumper’s woven barrier would fade out eventually, but for now it offered some security.

“How are you feeling anyway? Since you decided to burn some energy on winning a carnival game.”

He gave them a sour look. “As if you wouldn’t. She deserved the damn bird, and they weren’t going to let her have it.”

Moonjumper shrugged. That was fair. Hat Kid had been so happy, she carried it for the rest of the evening. That had been rewarding enough. “Even so, you can’t keep acting business-as-usual if you want to return to full strength.”

“What are you, my mother? I know that. Besides,” Snatcher paused, averting his eyes, “with the barrier up, I didn’t need to sustain as much,” he mumbled. It occurred to Moonjumper that this was his odd, indirect way of saying thanks.

“I can always do it again, if it’s more convenient that way,” they said, still trying to choose their words with care. Better to frame it in terms of practicality than as them doing him a favor.

“I doubt I’ll have another reason to leave Subcon that quickly. Unless the kid wants to go on another field trip.”

“Surely you enjoyed yourself a little?” He hadn’t seen himself on the Ferris wheel the way Moonjumper had. With his arm wrapped around Hat Kid’s shoulder, the two of them sitting next to each other staring in awe at the scenery revolving past them, for Moonjumper it had been a more beautiful sight than everything else. It was the kind of moment you could fall into and lose yourself in, when the two people you cared about most looked so serene and untroubled by the weight they carried. Moonjumper themself hadn’t felt peace like that in decades.

Snatcher, unaware of their musings, only shrugged. “Kid seemed to have a good time.”

Well, he was back to deflecting. They sighed under their breath. He apparently had hit his daily Vulnerability Limit. It was a start anyway. To his credit, the two of them were still making conversation at least.

“Yes, she did,” they conceded. “You know, precisely because of that, she might ask us to take her out again.”

Snatcher grimaced. “Would she?”

“You and I both know how active she likes to be. She traveled all over the world the first time she visited Earth. How long do you think you can keep her occupied in the forest?” Especially now that he was no longer distracting her with those dangerous challenges. Though Moonjumper had hated them, they had to admit, Hat Kid found them very engaging.

“Ugh! I know, but I can’t keep leaving all the time.” He groaned, slouching further. “You might just have to take her next time.”

They had spoken to him about this on multiple occasions at this point, with varying degrees of sensitivity, but Snatcher still hadn’t managed to let go of his sense of responsibility over the forest. Part of the burden of guilt that the kingdom’s death had happened because of him kept him tethered to it--he felt compelled to steward it in a way Moonjumper didn’t. Not that they didn’t struggle with survivor’s guilt either, but their abilities weren’t directly tied to maintaining the stasis of the forest, and as such, they didn’t feel similarly bound to it. It was what allowed them to explore more of the world around, to see that there could be life outside of the undying past.

“You have to know she’ll want you to be there.” The fair outing had only solidified the feeling of family for Moonjumper. The three of them  _ had _ enjoyed themselves. They could imagine every day feeling like that. “Have you thought about asking her about…” Moonjumper gestured vaguely with a hand. “You know, being her parent? I...look, I know what I feel. But I won’t jump on it before you’re ready.”

Snatcher gave them a pained look. “Can I even? Do I have the right to ask that?”

They groaned. “Snatcher, seriously, we talked about this-”

“I know! And I’m trying! But am I that person yet? I just-I just started trying. There’s no way I’m there yet.”

It wasn’t lost on Moonjumper that Hat Kid could say no, that she was fine enough just having them as her friends, she didn’t need them, didn’t need anybody like that. But regardless, it was obvious she liked being with them, and they could work with that, whatever they ended up calling their relationship in the end. To try and put a definitive label on it made their head spin, so they tried to focus on the absolutes. Hat Kid cared about them, and they cared about her. Don’t make things more complicated. Perhaps that flexibility came from never really having a good handle on their identity in the first place. The trick to not spiraling into an identity crisis was to always be having one...or something.

“Okay.” They held up their hands. “It’s okay. I know.”

Snatcher’s tail flicked back and forth in his agitation, but he seemed calmer once they relented. Suddenly, he perked up, eyes narrowing. “Something’s wrong,” he said. He looked up toward Hat Kid’s room, and Moonjumper frowned, hurrying up there.

The bed was empty, and Snatcher was hovering over it, eyes darting around with a distant expression, likely trying to see if he could sense her. Moonjumper glanced over the room and noticed something on Hat Kid’s table. They read the note:  _ Important mission. Be back soon. _ Their heart dropped as they picked up the note and held it up to Snatcher whose gaze focused in the same moment, sheer horror written in his features. He didn’t even read the note, just looked at Moonjumper with wide eyes.

“She’s at the manor!” Without warning, he grabbed onto them, yanking them into the shadows.

They materialized just outside the building. Snatcher hesitated for half a moment, his breath catching as he looked up at their former home. Moonjumper twisted their threads around their fingers, feeling the comfortable thrum of their magic. Snatcher reached out a hand, and the front doors glowed before blasting off their hinges, and the two of them raced inside.

A trail of ice led down the hall from the front entry, and the two of them followed it around the corner and to the flung-open door of a room. Snatcher stopped dead and Moonjumper almost crashed into him before their own unbeating heart stopped too.

Hat Kid dangled from Vanessa’s grip around her collar, eyes drooping shut and her entire body encased in silver ice that steadily crawled higher up toward her neck, threatening to cover her face as well. Vanessa turned, glaring red at the two of them.

“LET HER GO!” Snatcher surged forward, slamming Vanessa in the side, while Moonjumper reached out with their threads to catch Hat Kid and pull her into their arms.

**“You! How dare you!”** Vanessa screeched, blasting back at Snatcher and repelling him slightly. He lurched back, his right side spiked with frost. Under the coating of ice, his arm glowed purple and yellow, and the frost exploded from him in a crystalline mist. With a snarl, he redirected that energy toward Vanessa, a pillar of flame sending her careening back into the wall and shattering the furniture and window behind.

“Take the kid and go!” Snatcher shouted, deflecting another blast of ice.

“Wait!” Moonjumper cast their threads out again, catching him by the wrist, but instead of immobilizing him, they cut the thread off, leaving a woven bracelet that glowed blue around his arm. The effect was instantaneous. A ripple of boosted magic radiated from him in a wave and he reared back taller. Vanessa seemed to notice the change in his strength as well, and she retreated several steps toward the other room.

“Go,” Snatcher repeated, voice guttural with fury as he chased after Vanessa. Moonjumper didn’t wait any longer, turning and fleeing back down the hall, clutching Hat Kid in their arms.

“Little one, oh no, please wake up.” They wished desperately they could warm her.

Hat Kid’s eyes fluttered open. “Moon…”

“Oh thank goodness,” they gasped, flying out the door.

She tugged on their coat. “Wait.” She squeezed her eyes shut, then wriggled in their arms, almost making them drop her.

“My dear, what are you-”

Hat Kid gave a forceful shout as she untangled her arms and violently shook her dress out, the ice that coated her falling away in sheets. Somehow, miraculously, she had escaped being frozen through. “Wait! We have to go back!”

“That’s not happening! You could have died!”

She hit their shoulder with a fist, hard enough to make them slow down and look at her. “I’m going to stop Vanessa! For good! I lost my machine, it’s still in the room! I can do this, Moonjumper! I can save the forest, I can save Snatcher, you have to trust me!”

The tears that streaked her face were melting now that she was free of Vanessa’s influence. Moonjumper stopped, turning back toward the manor. “No, he-he’ll be fine. I’ll never forgive myself if I take you back in there.”

“I’ll never forgive you if you don’t!” she screamed. “I made a machine that will freeze her in time forever, it’s gonna work, but I need it back! I need to!” She hit them again, sobbing. “Please, let me do this! It will work! I just need one shot!”

Moonjumper stared at her. The determination in her eyes blazed bright, as though she hadn’t been just on the verge of death only a few moments ago. They turned back toward the manor. One of the windows flashed with orange-yellow light. They gave Snatcher some extra help, but how long would it last? He was still running on fumes by the time they got here.

“I can do it. Take me back,” she said. “You have to trust me.”

They hovered there, stunned by the choice laid out before them. Either they take Hat Kid back into danger, or they tell her they have no faith in her judgment. The fire in her eyes, the absolute certainty, was that of a survivor who had a mission to see through. It wasn’t just a childish whim that made her demand to return. At this very moment, this was the most important thing in the world. They pulled her tighter to them. “Okay.” They turned around. The difference now was she was safe in their arms. They wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

Another yellow flash in the window. “Please,” Hat Kid said, twisting their coat in her fists. They surged back through the doors.

“In there.” She pointed them back toward the room that they originally found her in. “Under.”

Without putting her down, Moonjumper cast their threads underneath the low table and snagged the device she had left. It was a strange blaster with a time piece hooked up in its core, glowing radiant blue-white. Hat Kid took it from them and powered it on, a droning hum filling the room. Moonjumper’s skin tingled from the power it exuded. Being in close proximity to the device made part of their vision warp slightly around the edges, as though the thing was drawing the rest of the world toward it.

“What is that?” they murmured.

Hat Kid adjusted some settings on it, and the warping sensation and humming grew more insistent. “Time rift maker. Let’s get Vanessa.”

Moonjumper left the room, following the trail of destruction that led up to the second floor. The door to the bedroom had been blasted open; only a gaping hole remained. Inside, they could see Snatcher facing off with Vanessa, both of them breathing hard. Vanessa’s corner had glistening spears of ice jutting from it, haloing her in frozen thorns. Snatcher hovered nearer to the door, somewhat hunched and another coat of ice layering part of him. He shook it off again. The blue bracelet Moonjumper had given him quivered, its threads growing spindly, on the verge of snapping.

Hat Kid propped the device up, aiming it at Vanessa. It hummed louder, to the point of pain, and Moonjumper squinted, cringing at the screaming pitch it emitted. Hat Kid held completely steady in their arms.

“Snatcher! Look out!” she cried.

Both Snatcher and Vanessa looked up, and Snatcher instinctively lurched aside, just as Hat Kid activated the device. Before Vanessa could process what was happening, a concentrated beam of white blasted out, just as she lunged toward them. It struck Vanessa square in the chest and she froze, red eyes going wide.

The time piece in the device drained, going dull and translucent as it converted all of the time energy into that focused beam. Vanessa’s form steadily went crystalline, and then the edges of her became glitchy, staticky artifacts creeping inward to her center as though reality were imploding on her. As the time piece emptied, the pitch of the beam dulled back to the low hum, and then to silence. Vanessa’s form continued to crumble in on itself.

“Run now,” Hat Kid said in an unnervingly steady voice.

Snatcher stared at Vanessa and then turned to Hat Kid and Moonjumper. The floor underneath and the wall behind Vanessa were now starting to fall victim to the same glitching and crumbling effects.

“Now,” Hat Kid repeated. Without another word, Snatcher grabbed onto Moonjumper’s arm, and the three of them vanished. They landed just on the outskirts of the manor, right as the blue band on Snatcher’s wrist snapped and dissipated, and he skidded into the snow while Moonjumper braced in midair after being tossed out of the shadows. Behind them, the manor was still. Until several seconds later, it wasn’t. It seemed to twitch, and then from the center, as though it were just a projection on a sheet, it pulled into itself. The surface of it went crystalline too, white and pale purple blocks checkering the exterior, and it spiralled inward, like a vortex had caught its image. With a pop, the entire manor imploded out of existence, leaving a gaping emptiness in the center of the broad clearing in its place.

Snatcher struggled upright. Fragments of ice were still stuck in his mane and on parts of his arm. “What...happened?”

“I told you it would work,” Hat Kid said quietly. “I made a stable time rift. Not like the ones that come from breaking the time pieces. This one is untouchable. You don’t have to worry about Queen Vanessa hurting anybody ever again.” Though earlier she had been intensely steady, now that they were out and it was over, she began to shiver violently in Moonjumper’s arms and her teeth chattered as she spoke.

“My dear, you’re shaking. We need to get you warm.”

Hat Kid winced. “M’ foot,” she slurred. They looked down and gasped, reaching immediately to pry the rat trap still clamped over her boot. They broke it in half, unhinging the mechanism from the base entirely and letting it drop into the snow.

Snatcher floated over, wrapping his arms around both of them and transporting them to Hat Kid’s room in the hollow. Moonjumper laid her down in bed, but as they were wrapping her in their blanket, Snatcher murmured, “I need to go,” and drifted out the door and away from the hollow.

Hat Kid stared after him, looking dazed herself. Her brow knit together with obvious concern, but she also looked on the verge of passing out. Moonjumper was torn for a moment. They knew Snatcher was in bad shape, but so was Hat Kid. They hoped he could take care of himself for a while, and settled into the bed with her, swaddling her tightly in the blanket and holding her close to them. The blanket, already infused with their magic, responded readily to their influence, and they charged it with the warmth they couldn’t provide themself. Eventually, Hat Kid’s shivering slowed, and she curled up against them. They listened to her breathing intently until they were certain she was only sleeping and would remain so. They passed several hours this way, not daring to move.

* * *

His arms hurt, the chains were so cold they burned. His chest ached from sobbing, his throat raw. The cellar door never moved and only ice crystals gathered on the floor around him. He could feel himself dying, why wouldn’t he just die already? Everything hurt. How long had he been here?

“-you hear me? Snatcher, it’s me.”

There was forest everywhere. Smoke covering the sky. Where was he? When did it get so dark? Everything was on fire. Everything but the village. The people there, all frozen, all dead. Ice coating everything, oh god they were all dead. He could melt the ice, but they were all dead. Their spirits floating away.

“Focus on my voice. Come on.”

“Boss! Wake up! We’re here!”

Snatcher blinked. The blurry purple and gray blobs of the village focused in his vision. He was lying on the ground in the village center. Moonjumper hovered over him, looking exhausted and worried. Behind them a whole crowd of the Subconites huddled, all fidgeting nervously.

“Urgh...what happened?” He tried to remember how he’d gotten here, but there was nothing but fog. It was like the world had sped up around him and he couldn’t keep up with it. Snatcher lay there, too exhausted to move.

“We saw you come from the hollow and you collapsed here. We were so worried!” one of the Subconites said. “You wouldn’t answer us for hours!”

Hours...his mind struggled to keep up. Time? Wait. An image of a white beam of light flashed in his mind. Snatcher looked at his right arm to where a fragment of ice still clung to him. He stared at it vacantly. “Kid,” he mumbled.

“She’s okay now,” Moonjumper said. “She’s sleeping. Some of the other Subconites are watching over her. She’s not alone.” They crouched down beside him and laid a hand on his shoulder. With their other hand, they gently peeled off the remaining chunks of ice. “You overdid it, my friend.”

Snatcher struggled to orient himself. Damn it, he couldn’t remember. There were fragments of memories--searching the kid’s room, looking up at the mansion that he never thought he’d have to see again, Hat Kid limp in Vanessa’s grasp, all framed by the pounding backdrop of terror that lanced through every part of the recollection. A shudder ran down his body at that last memory. No, wait, Moonjumper just said she was safe. The small pulling sensations of Moonjumper and the minions clearing the lingering ice from him kept him somewhat present, and Snatcher focused on that, focused on the feeling of the ground underneath him. All the sounds of the forest around him seemed so much louder, like he was hearing them for the first time.

The physical sensations around him helped clear some of the fog in his head, and the more lucid part that was able to struggle free reminded him of Hat Kid. Safe now, yes, but she had been hurt.  _ Vanessa _ had hurt her. How had he let it happen? With a groan, he pulled his arms up and tried to push himself upright. Snatcher hadn’t felt this exhausted in three hundred years. At this rate it would really take weeks for him to return to full strength without the use of another soul. He would have to get used to the feeling. There were more important things now, things he couldn’t compromise.

“If you need to rest more, don’t push yourself,” Moonjumper said. “I’m...still not exactly sure what the little one did to Vanessa, but I have a feeling we won’t have to worry about her for...a long time.”

“I’ll rest when I’m dead,” he said, straightening himself back up.

“Um,” said Moonjumper.

Snatcher slid past them, heading back toward the hollow. He mussed the hood of one of the Subconites affectionately as the crowd of them parted. “I’m fine, you little menaces.”

“Really, Snatcher.” Moonjumper caught up to him easily; he couldn’t go very fast. They summoned their strings again, wrapping another fragment of power around his wrist. While it didn’t clear the mental numbness that still clung to him, he no longer felt like he was physically dragging himself across the dirt. Almost felt properly like a ghost again.

Painstakingly, they made their way up the path and back into Hat Kid’s room where she still slept soundly.

“Boss,” one of the Subconites keeping vigil over her said, perking up at his arrival. “We were so worried!”

“Yeah, I know, I know. It’s okay. I’m here.” Snatcher leaned over the bed, pushing the blue curtains aside to watch Hat Kid as she slept. Moonjumper hovered nearby. Dozens of questions crowded Snatcher’s mind, barring him from settling on any specific one to start with.

“Are you sure you’re alright?” Moonjumper asked, starting the conversation for him.

Snatcher glanced up at the three Subconites who were still hanging around at the foot of the bed, watching them. “You can head back to the village. Tell everyone I’m fine, don’t worry,” he told them. They hesitated but nodded, filing out of the hollow in short order. Snatcher went back to watching over Hat Kid once they had gone. “Nope, definitely not,” he said to Moonjumper. It wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have in front of the minions, but, no, he was not doing great, for a million reasons. “You?” he asked, after a pause.

“I-I think I’m still a little in shock,” Moonjumper said faintly. “I’m not entirely sure what happened, or why.”

Why. That was a good question. “I thought I told her not to go running off.” He stared down at Hat Kid, reaching over to push a lock of hair out of her face. “Why didn’t you take her away like I asked?”

“That device...she refused to leave without it. I don’t even know what it did. Something about a time rift? It happened so fast. But apparently she felt it was important enough that she had to break her promise.”

The mansion crystalizing and vanishing into thin air materialized in Snatcher’s mind, as abruptly as the rest of his fragmented memories. “Right...I forgot.”

Moonjumper frowned at him. “You forgot?”

He winced. “I-yeah. I’m…” Snatcher took a moment, reminding himself Moonjumper had already seen him at his worst, there was no point in trying to hide weakness from them. “I’m having trouble remembering what happened after we got there.”

“Oh. That-that doesn’t sound good. Maybe you really should rest longer.”

“No, I think it’s just what happens when, uh, well, I think I had another of those panic attacks. Or something. It was like that when I first escaped the cellar as a spirit. I don’t have a good memory of what happened for a while afterward. Or even when we were searching for the kid that one time. That one came back to me quickly, but I was still hazy for a bit.”

“Hmm. I’m sure it doesn’t help that you already were so exhausted.”

“Yeah…” He could feel himself glazing over and forced himself to focus. “This kid. She’s going to be the death of me.” His anxieties were still hissing into the back of his mind that they weren’t out of the woods yet. Hat Kid still hadn’t woken up yet. She might never. Lucky for him he was so wiped out, those thoughts couldn’t start him on another panic spiral.

“I know. When I saw Vanessa holding her...”

“I thought for sure this time, she was gone. I got lucky before, but I was so sure, this time, I really lost her.” It never got easier, that terror that she was being torn from his grasp. In fact it only got worse, the closer they became.

Moonjumper looked confused. “Are you talking about the shipwreck?”

It occurred to Snatcher just then that he still hadn’t confessed about the final Death Wish. He swallowed hard. At this point, he probably shouldn’t be keeping it from them anymore. Things were different now. At least he hoped.

“Not exactly. There was that time she got injured in the contract.”

“Oh, right.”

“I...need to tell you something about that time.”

Their expression turned wary. “What is it?”

Snatcher inhaled long. “She did die for a few minutes, back then. I had to bring her back.”

“ _ What? _ ”

“Yeah…”

“You’re telling me this,  _ now? _ ”

“I know.” He covered his face with a hand. “I’m sorry.”

There was a long silence. “You know, I think deep down I knew,” they said finally. “You were so shaken for it to have been just a bad injury. It makes more sense that way.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again.

They huffed. “You’d better be. You’re lucky you’ve taken such a beating already, or I'd put your head through the wall.”

“I know.” Luck didn’t even begin to cover it.

“You talked to  _ her _ about it, right? She knows, right?”

“Yes.”

“Alright then. That’s what matters. I suppose I understand why you didn’t tell me before. There’s not anything else, is there?”

Snatcher turned to face them. They looked weary too, and that weighed on his guilt. Everyone in the room had really been through it that night, and that admission was probably the last thing Moonjumper needed on their plate. But there was no point to keeping it a secret from them any longer. They needed to know.

“No,” he said.

“There’d better not be. I’m at my limit, truly.” They grinned a bit manically at him, and he couldn’t keep himself from mirroring the expression.

“Glad to know you actually have one, you freakish optimist” Snatcher said, and Moonjumper snickered, which set Snatcher off, and pretty soon the two of them were both struggling to keep quiet. Nothing was actually funny, and for his part, Snatcher still felt like something had run him over, but somehow neither of them could stop laughing for several minutes. Probably they had both just gone insane.

Hat Kid stirred a little through the barely repressed ruckus, wearing a small frown as she shifted. It was good to see her moving, that something like them failing to shut up could still bother her. Eventually, the two of them settled down, resuming their former watch. They passed the rest of the night in silence, only hunkering down more comfortably. By the end of the night, Moonjumper was cradling Hat Kid in their lap, leaning against Snatcher who had coiled around them both in the bed, closing his eyes and getting as close to the feeling of sleep as he was capable.

Many hours later, he stirred to the sound of Moonjumper saying, “Good morning, my dear.”

Snatcher opened his eyes and looked down at Hat Kid, still snuggled up in her blanket and blinking groggily at them both. He smiled down at her, energized by the rush of joy at seeing her awake and aware when she smiled faintly back. “Hey sweetie. How’re you feeling?”


	14. Sleepy Subcon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Snatcher and Moonjumper take care of Hat Kid as they all recover from the ordeal

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's just sickfic. Also get ready for some grade A timey-wimey bull-SHIT for how the rift device works. Also also I literally wrote a fucking song for this chapter.

Snatcher remained in the bed, curled protectively around Hat Kid. She held his hand while she rested, fiddling with the blue power band that Moonjumper had given him. Occasionally, she would break out into a fit of coughing. She kept her right leg propped up against him, a sack of ice wrapped around her foot where the rat trap had crushed it. Fortunately, her boot had prevented major damage, but it was still tender and required first aid before she would be putting weight on it again.

Well, there was the matter of the cold she’d caught that would keep her off her feet too. After some discussion, he and Moonjumper agreed that the latter ought to make a supply run to the nearest town to seek proper food and medicine. Snatcher never had much use for pons, but Moonjumper was apparently loaded, and in any case, Snatcher was still too fatigued from earlier that night to make the journey.

He desperately wanted to ask Hat Kid to explain her reasoning, as bewildered as he still was about the whole situation. Vanessa being the one to almost take his child away from him was truly the worst nightmare he could imagine, and the echoes of what he might have lost still wracked him. He wanted to ask, but as she coughed a few more times and sniffled, he held back. It wasn’t the time to barrage her with questions.

“Hey Boss. Does Newbie need more water?” A Subconite poked their head in through the curtain that covered the door.

“How’re you doing, kiddo? Need a top off?” Snatcher peeked down at the mug wedged amidst the blankets.

Hat Kid nodded, pulling the mug out and handing it off to him to pass on to the minion. They marched off dutifully to refill it from the well. The whole situation made Snatcher painfully aware of how ill-equipped the forest was to care for a living child who needed sustenance and health care. It left him groping in the far reaches of his oldest memories for all the things he had needed for existence when he was still alive. In that regard, for once, he and Moonjumper were on roughly equal footing. Once he had recovered some of his strength, they were going to have to do a lot more work around the forest. Once he’d recovered his strength...and once they figured out what on Earth exactly  _ happened _ with Vanessa. The kid had mentioned something about a stable time rift and assured them Vanessa was no longer a problem, but what did that even mean? And where did that leave Snatcher?

The idea that Vanessa was just...gone after all these years left him completely unmoored. He pushed the thoughts back down. He couldn’t think about it. Not right now. Not in his current mental state. He had just come down from the mind boggling stress of facing Vanessa for the first time since his escape and almost losing Hat Kid again. Right now he needed to be present enough to look after her while Moonjumper was out, and if he started falling down that mental spiral, he might lose time again.

The undercurrent of anxiety was still buzzing in his head, fighting against his efforts to suppress it. Snatcher’s memory of the eventful evening was still fragmented, even now that he’d had some time to calm down and recuperate. Everything that happened just came in flashes, and even those were enough to kickstart his fight-or-flight instinct. He had been running on pure instinct and adrenaline, holding himself together just long enough to rescue his kid--there was no other way he had the strength to look Vanessa in the eye again, much less fight back.

Perhaps that was the thing about his hatred for his past self. He still was the Prince, even after everything. For all his talk, he still did not have it in him to finish Vanessa off, or even drive her away. It took a child to do it. She almost died because of his utter failure to face his demons. And here he was, still unsure how he was supposed to feel.

“What is this for?” Hat Kid interrupted his reverie in a raspy voice, still plucking at the blue bracelet.

“Oh, uh. Moonjumper lent me their own version of a power-up.” He tried to keep his voice casual, not wanting to give her cause to fret over him.

“She hurt you, didn’t she?”

“Nah, kid, I’m fine. Just need a rest.” It was sort of true. Vanessa’s magic  _ was _ painful. Physically, though, it wasn’t really a huge issue, especially if he hadn’t already been low on power at the time. His form couldn’t sustain damage in a meaningful way--exhaustion had always been his chief problem and was by its nature a temporary one. So by one specific definition of “fine,” yes he was.

“You always say you’re fine, even if you’re not.”

“How do you know I’m not if I always say I’m fine?”

“Don’t lawyer me. I can just tell, okay? Grown ups never say what they mean.”

Snatcher chuckled. “Oh really?”

“Yeah, really. That’s why I always have to figure it out myself because nobody pecking tells me anything!” Her voice raised enough that she started coughing again.

“Hey, take it easy, kid.” He fluffed her hair, making her bat at his arm. He sighed. “You just got back from another near-death experience.”

She leaned back against him and crossed her arms. The ice pack on her foot crinkled. “Wasn’t supposed to be. Stupid rat trap. I had it. I was supposed to get in, take the shot, get out.”

“Kid…” Snatcher groaned. “Why did you even go in the first place? Why didn’t you tell me?”

Hat Kid turned and frowned up at him. “You would have said no.”

“Uh, yeah. Exactly.”

“But I had to.”

“Wh-What? Why?” He shook his head. He had just promised himself he wouldn’t interrogate her. “I-never mind. We can talk about it later. You need to rest.”

“I had to protect you,” she said quietly. He almost didn’t hear.

Snatcher froze. What could that possibly mean? Where did she get it into her head that she had to do that? The admission cut right down to his core. Had he been that openly pathetic that even she could see it? He was supposed to be the one protecting her, and now apparently he was just going backwards.

“We’re back.” Moonjumper poked their head in through the curtained doorway. “Oh, hello, little one. You’re awake.”

Snatcher stared helplessly at them as they entered with a pair of Subconites in tow, hauling sacks of supplies. He was still reeling over Hat Kid’s admission. Of all the bad times to make an entrance…

“Let’s see, we’ve got some food here. I managed to find soup. They come in cans now? It’s very sophisticated. I know you like sweets, so I got you some cookies and soda, but only as a treat! And I didn’t know exactly what medicines to get. I spoke to a helpful clerk but I didn’t know how to explain your illness, so I just got a bunch.” Moonjumper unloaded the satchels onto Hat Kid’s desk. “Medicine, it turns out, is also very sophisticated now.”

“I could make some too, you know,” Snatcher said.

“To be honest, I’m not sure how much I trust your alchemy skills,” Moonjumper said.

“Wow.”

“Oh don’t be like that. You face zero consequences if you use a botched potion, and half of them you use like bombs anyway. Not to mention, you should be resting too!”

Snatcher glared at them over Hat Kid’s head, just as she gasped. “I knew it!”

Moonjumper blinked at the two of them. “Knew what? Was that some sort of weird secret?”

“Vanessa hurt Snatcher, didn’t she? He said he’s fine but I didn’t believe him.”

“Okay, kiddo! You know it’s rude to talk about people like they’re not there, right?”

“Well, I wouldn’t if you just told me.”

“Um, should we go?” said one of the Subconites who had helped Moonjumper with the bags.

“Thank you for your help. Yes, it seems like we might have some things to discuss,” Moonjumper said, giving the two minions a pat. “Don’t worry, my friends. I’m sure you will have your playmate back soon.”

Once the three of them were alone again, Snatcher pressed a hand to his head. “Kid, it’s not your job to worry about me.”

“Ugh, why not? You literally said you worry about me all the time! How’s that fair?”

“Because you’re a kid??” Snatcher could hear his voice elevating, noticed Moonjumper giving him a warning look and took a breath. “Look, we’re not having this argument now, alright? You’re sick.”

“It’s just a little cough,” Hat Kid protested. Moonjumper’s skeptical expression mirrored Snatcher’s own. “Seriously! Okay, I know it looked bad, but once you made the queen let go of me, her weird creepy magic stopped affecting me, and I wasn’t that cold. I was wearing your dress and my Ice Hat.”

That’s right. The dress. The infamous dress with its tumultuous history. Now there was the real irony that he had been going for when he’d first made it. That damn thing probably saved her life.

“Either way, Snatcher is right. You don’t need to be worrying about us,” said Moonjumper, making their way to join them at the bed. Snatcher uncoiled himself a bit from around Hat Kid to give them more access. Things had gotten pretty touchy-feely the previous night, since both Snatcher and Moonjumper had been feeling pretty clingy toward Hat Kid, but now that she was more alert, he wasn’t really in the mood to be quite that personal with Moonjumper again. Yeah, they were...on actually pretty agreeable terms at that point, but right now Snatcher was feeling rather raw.

Moonjumper sat themself on the edge of the bed, checking Hat Kid’s foot while they were at it.

Hat Kid huffed, crumpling up the blanket in her hands. “Just because I’m a kid doesn’t mean I can’t do stuff.”

“That’s not what we mean.” Moonjumper put a hand on her balled up fists, and eventually she eased her grip. “We-” they glanced up at Snatcher with a questioning look. He cast his gaze down. It probably made sense to talk to the kid about their relationship at this point, to make some things clear about how they felt. After the night he’d just had though, Snatcher wasn’t sure he could take it if she said she didn’t want to be his child. He really might lose his mind at that point. Moonjumper watched his reaction for a split second, then continued, “We know you’re very capable. You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met. But kids shouldn’t have to worry so much, and especially not about grown ups. You’ve had a lot of things to worry about in life. We just want you to be able to be carefree. Let us take care of you.”

“How can I be carefree when I knew you were hurting?” Hat Kid turned back to Snatcher. “I know you were trying to hide it, but you weren’t feeling good. You had to protect the forest from Vanessa, but you weren’t getting any more souls because you were taking care of me so it was hard. So I had to go. I couldn’t let the forest freeze because of me. I knew you wouldn’t like it if I went, so it was supposed to be a surprise, so you wouldn’t get worried. But I had to.”

Snatcher stared down at her, jaw hanging open. “Kid, I…” His voice cracked.

“I saw the fires and the village. I knew you weren’t fine. As long as Vanessa was there, you would always have to worry about her, and then you also had to be worried about me. I’m sorry I broke my promise and ran off, but you weren’t supposed to know. I was supposed to fix it, and then you wouldn’t have to worry anymore. I was supposed to make it better.”

Snatcher felt himself go Prince-shaped on the spot, tears escaping his eyes. God, he loved her. He loved her so much he could die again. If she asked him for the moon, he’d pull it out of the sky. To hell with deserving. That ship had long sailed; he didn’t and he wouldn’t, but damn it if he wouldn’t give everything for her. If it meant reliving every awful thing in his life to bring him to this moment, he’d choose it, choose  _ her _ every time.

Her brow furrowed with concern at the sight of him crying, but he pulled her into a tight embrace, and she tucked herself into his arms.

Just then, the Subconite who had gone on the long trek to fetch more water entered. They paused in the doorway. “Uhh. I’ll just leave this here,” they said awkwardly, placing the mug and a spare pitcher on the table and backing out of the room.

Moonjumper laughed softly, retrieved the mug and floated over to the two of them. They placed a hand on Snatcher’s shoulder, hovering close.

“Kid, you already did make it better. You didn’t have to do anything. It was already better.” Snatcher wiped his eyes. “You know I hadn’t cried in centuries, and you managed to get me twice in as many weeks.”

“See! Why wouldn’t I worry? I always thought you would hate for me to see you cry!”

Snatcher laughed. “I kinda do, honestly. It’s pretty embarrassing, you know.”

“I think you’ve been holding it in too long,” Moonjumper said, handing Hat Kid the refilled cup of water once Snatcher released her. She gulped half the cup in one breath. “Oh, my dear, you’ll choke,” they muttered.

“I hate crying too,” Hat Kid said, rubbing her mouth on her sleeve. “Everyone gives you weird looks or gets all irritated.”

“See? The kid gets it!”

Moonjumper rolled their eyes. “You two…” They straightened up and put their hands on their hips. “You mean to tell me it wasn’t worth it to have it all out in the open two weeks ago? Would it be better if you held all that in?”

Both Snatcher and Hat Kid glanced away in opposite directions. He pushed his fingers through his hair, and she picked at a chip in the mug.

“Well, I mean…”

“I gueeessss.”

Moonjumper chuckled, shaking their head. “You shouldn’t worry about something like crying. It’s just me watching. I won’t get irritated.”

“Yeah, I know. I just feel like a big baby,” said Hat Kid.

“Well at least now you know even Snatcher can cry, so there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

Snatcher shot them a sour look. “You’re lucky I’m still tapped out.”

Moonjumper gasped dramatically, but their face remained completely serene. “I will remember to be terrified when you’re back on your feet.”

“Ugh, no respect.” Snatcher flopped back against the pillows, pulling Hat Kid back with him. She rolled off to the side and snuggled up next to him. He poked her in the forehead, and she scrunched her face up and stuck her tongue out. “See kid what happens when I go all soft? How am I supposed to be taken seriously now?”

She only giggled at him. “I do take you seriously.”

“Oh yeah, how come you’re laughing like that, then?”

“I’m not!” she said, suddenly holding her face very stiff. “I  _ am _ being serious.” They stared at each other, before the corner of her mouth twitched, and everyone exploded with laughter.

Moonjumper sat down on the bed on Hat Kid’s other side, after they had all recovered themselves. “Don’t worry, your reputation will be safe with us, isn’t that right?”

Hat Kid nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, we’ll spread lots of scary rumors.”

He smirked. “Why do I get the feeling that’s where my reputation will go to die?”

“No idea, it’s in perfectly good hands,” said Moonjumper.

The three of them lay staring up at the wispy blue canopy over the bed. Hat Kid’s stomach rumbled, and her hands flew to her stomach. She pursed her lips, looking embarrassed.

“Oh! Of course, you need to eat!” Moonjumper leaped up. They picked up some of the soup and inspected it. Snatcher watched them skeptically. The last time he’d tried to prepare food for Hat Kid, most of it had ended up on the walls. The two of them would have to figure out some sort of system, because Hat Kid’s diet, when left to her own devices, seemed a bit disproportionately balanced in favor of sugar.

“I don’t suppose we have cookware,” Moonjumper muttered, stroking their chin. They popped the lid off the can. Hat Kid shuffled to the edge of the bed and propped her head up with her hands, watching their antics.

“I might have something in the lab,” Snatcher said.

Moonjumper made a face. “Is that safe?”

“Yeesh, it’s not all poison, you know!” Snatcher borrowed a bit of energy from Moonjumper’s wristband, using it to open a small dimension door to the lab that allowed him to search through his stock and retrieve a burner and a pot. “This one should be fine.” In response to Moonjumper’s persistent dubious expression, “I’m serious! It’s only for heating water. Good grief.”

“Your potion worked good. I trust you,” said Hat Kid.

“Finally, some support.”

“Very well,” said Moonjumper. They dumped the soup into the pot and ignited the burner. “I should have bought more supplies, now that I think of it.”

“Ooh, shopping trip!” Hat Kid said. She glanced at the two of them. “When my foot gets better.”

“And you’re not coughing anymore,” Moonjumper added, stirring the soup. “I hope I’m doing this right. There’s instructions but I think it’s meant to be rather basic.”

“Surely we can’t screw up soup,” said Snatcher, hoping he wouldn’t be eating those words in the next few minutes. Mentally, he was already compiling a list of things they would need if Hat Kid was going to stay with them permanently. He paused. Permanently. It was still hard to believe. She said she wanted to stay, but part of him still resisted the idea that things really could be that good. Snatcher pushed it down. Would that part of him ever shut up? He couldn’t let it matter more than taking care of her right now. He wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Over the strong heat of the burner, the soup quickly began bubbling. Moonjumper snapped the flame out. “Hm. You...need a bowl, don’t you?”

Hat Kid giggled, as though she had been waiting for either of them to realize it the entire time. “Yeah. I brought some. They’re in my closet.”

Moonjumper squinted at her, clicking their tongue. “Oh you little rogue.”

Snatcher poked her in the ribs, making her squeak and flip over. “You’re just watching us embarrass ourselves, aren’t you?”

She giggled even more, accepting the bowl from Moonjumper. “Yup!” She sat herself up to eat. “You know, if you want to get better at cooking, I have a friend who’s really good at that stuff. I can find her and maybe she can teach you if you want. I just ran into her again on the cruise.”

Snatcher glanced at Moonjumper nervously, then back to Hat Kid. “I don’t know, kiddo.” Meeting someone new? Someone who had seen him have a public meltdown? No thanks. “I’m not keen on leaving the forest unsupervised again.”

Hat Kid frowned, cheeks slightly puffed out from a mouthful of food. “But I took care of Vanessa. Everything worked like it was supposed to. She can’t hurt anybody anymore.”

The room went quiet. “I was wondering if we could talk about that,” said Moonjumper, picking at some stray threads that had suddenly appeared entwined in their fingers.

Hat Kid nodded enthusiastically, jostling the bowl. “I thought you would ask me about it a lot sooner.”

“You were half-frozen and barely conscious,” Snatcher muttered.

“Yeah, but like, after I meant.”

“You still needed to rest, my dear,” Moonjumper said gently. “But if you’re up to it now…”

She nodded again. “Yeah, so. You know how I explained the time rifts that happen when you break a time piece, right? It’s pretty crude. You’re not  _ supposed _ to break them, and that’s why the rifts from those get all wonky and make space-time glitches and also why you can reverse them if you know how to navigate them. But they do that because time pieces are just concentrated space-time. That’s why they’re so powerful and why our ships can hop so far so fast.” She paused and looked back at the two of them.

Snatcher blinked at her. How could she really accuse all of his hobbies of being mind boggling when this is what she spent her free time learning?  _ What _ was space-time even? Obviously it was powerful, if the mustached girl could do what she did with the time pieces, and apparently that was using them  _ crudely. _

Moonjumper must have had a similarly blank expression, because Hat Kid huffed and continued. “Okay, okay! It’s not that important. The point is, if you just smash them, you get all sorts of weird side-effects. You can really mess with reality. Obviously. But! I know how to use them precisely. You can basically fine tune specific aspects of reality if you do it correctly.”

“That seems like a very dangerous power to have,” Moonjumper said, looking as perturbed as Snatcher felt.

Hat Kid put on a genuinely serious face. “That’s why it’s so important to do it  _ correctly. _ I  _ had _ to stop Mustache Girl that time, otherwise the whole planet would have collapsed when the time rift did! Maybe worse! She could have turned the whole system into a giant singularity. Ugh!” She crossed her arms. “I told her it was bad, and she didn’t listen,” she grumbled.

“Anyways, I made that device to hyperfocus the power in the time piece. It would basically make a small singular point.” She seemed to notice the blank faces returning. “Um! Like a big sinkhole in reality? When I hit Vanessa with it, she became the center of the singular point and she started pulling everything that had a strong temporal connection to her into that point. So basically anything nearby that her timeline was really intertwined with, which is why the whole house vanished because I guess she spent a lot of time interacting with it. And also why we all had to get away really fast, otherwise it would have caught us in the vortex.”

There was silence for a while. Snatcher waited for Moonjumper to speak up or Hat Kid to continue elaborating, because his words were currently stuck in traffic.

“Where did it...take Vanessa?” they finally asked.

“Um, kind of into like, a fixed point in time? So a point in time so deep that nothing can escape it, and the normal flow of time that isn’t within its event horizon just moves around it completely unaffected. She has no idea she’s experiencing it. The passage of time just isn’t affecting her anymore.”

“Does it hurt?” Snatcher said suddenly, then blinked at himself, surprised at his own outburst.

Hat Kid frowned again, this time with a hint of worry. “No, like I said, she has no idea. It sounds crazy, but it’s just a pause button in reality for her. She’s frozen but in time instead of ice.” The worry spread further in her features. “Did I...did I do something bad?” she murmured, fringes of panic creeping in. She watched Snatcher intently.

“No!” Objectively, Vanessa being gone was something healthy for the forest and likely for him as well. As if he hadn’t tried to work up his courage to remove her for years, always telling himself one more soul, a little more time, and then he would be strong enough. But why were his feelings going haywire? He pressed his fingers to his head. He knew he should be happy, relieved. Everything had worked out. Snatcher did not feel happy. “It’s just…” He looked up at Moonjumper.  _ Help? _

“I…” they started. They cleared their throat. “No, it wasn’t wrong. Please don’t be afraid of that. But, it  _ is _ a lot to process.”

“Are you sure?” she asked in a voice so small that Snatcher reached out and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

“Yes, I’m sure,” he said. “I just...I don’t know how to explain.”

She leaned against him. “It’s okay. As long as you’re sure.”

“But can we make a deal?”

“What do you mean?”

“Can you promise that you’ll talk to us first, before you try and save the world again?”

“Oh. But…you said you wouldn’t let me. But it was really important.”

Snatcher closed his eyes, trying to focus his thoughts. “Please, kid, I...I would rather still have to worry about Vanessa than to have you put yourself in danger for my sake again. I know you had your plan, but.” He took a breath. “If you’re worried about me, can we talk about it first? Before you go kicking doors down? What I’m trying to say is, you don’t have to fix everything by yourself anymore. We can figure it out together.”

“Oh…” she said again. At least she looked thoughtful, rather than defiant.

“That goes for you too, my dear,” Moonjumper chimed in. “If you’re struggling with something, you don’t have to hide it. We want to help you too. That’s what I meant earlier. You’ve had to do so many things on your own, but you don’t anymore. When we have problems, you shouldn’t be the one to carry them for us. It’s okay to be worried about us, but don’t try to bear it alone.”

“You always told me  _ not _ to worry about you,” Hat Kid said.

“I know, kiddo. I just didn’t want to put that burden on you. I guess...I did anyway," Snatcher said.

"I told you, I could tell something was wrong. And you wouldn’t tell me."

He ran his hand down his face. Of course, she hated not knowing what he was thinking. Inevitably it always came back around to her feeling personally responsible. Her life experiences had convinced her that everyone else's issues were her burden.

"How about this? If I promise to tell you when...I'm not doing so great, can you promise to talk to me or Moonjumper about your worries too?"

"I will do the same as well," said Moonjumper. They grimaced. "I know I've been just as guilty about brushing aside your concerns. I can see how that backfired."

Hat Kid lowered her eyes. "I'm sorry I broke my promise about running off too. I thought I could make it back in time, and you would never have to worry at all. But it did the opposite."

Moonjumper clasped her hand. "I know you're used to people not caring when you're gone, but try to remember that's not true anymore. You're very, very important to us. We'd rather you not jump into danger, but if you must, we want to be right there with you."

Moonjumper had retained flawless use of the Royal We, apparently, but Snatcher couldn’t deny they were right. Everything they said, he agreed with. She did the Death Wishes as entertainment. The kid was a sweetheart but a hellraiser who shrugged at danger. She wasn't going to stop getting herself into trouble, they had to face it. At some point she would decide that there was some new cause worth risking her life over. Hopefully the next time that happened, though, she would let them support her.

Hat Kid hugged Moonjumper. "I promise I'll talk to you from now on."

"I'm glad," they said.

Hat Kid sneezed.

"You should get back to sleep, kiddo. That was a big talk," Snatcher said, pulling the blanket out and unfurling it.

"Yes, good point," said Moonjumper, sitting up to allow Snatcher to drape the blanket over Hat Kid. "You are still recovering."

"Aww, I'm not that tired. The food gave me energy," she protested, though she still snuggled under the blankets.

"There's plenty of time when you wake up, and you'll get better faster. Your sleep schedule is complete chaos." Moonjumper tucked the blanket around her neatly and brushed the hair out of her face.

"But there's so much more to talk about!"

Snatcher sighed. She was talking about him, no doubt. He dropped his hand onto her head. "Tomorrow, kid."

She pouted but settled down. They sat with her, waiting for her to drift off. Normally, she fell asleep fairly quickly, but this time, she tossed and turned several times, fussing with the blankets.

After a while, Moonjumper placed a hand on her forehead. "Are you alright, little one?"

"Hot," she grumbled, eyes squinty with drowsiness. She kicked the blanket off for a fourth time, only to curl up and pull it back over herself.

"You're all sweaty," Snatcher said. He reached over and grabbed a cloth, wiping her face down.

"Should we try some of the medicine?" Moonjumper asked.

"Eww, noo." She pressed her face into her pillow.

"It might help keep you cool," they said, getting up to search through their supply.

While they busied themself reading through the various instructions on the packaging, Snatcher used some of the water from her mug to wet the cloth and put it on her head. He hoped that wasn't a mistake. It had been ages since illness had been a concern, but the motion felt right, like something instinctual buried deep within. It seemed to make her more comfortable at least.

"Here, try this. It's supposed to be for fevers, which sounds about right." Moonjumper twisted the lid off a bottle and measured out a dose.

Hat Kid peeked up at them and then immediately pushed her face back into the cushion. "No."

"Come now, you'll be more comfortable." They held the liquid out to her, waiting.

"Let's go, kiddo. We're both really old, we can wait you out." Snatcher prodded her head.

"I can control time," Hat Kid retorted in a muffled voice.

"Not without your time pieces, and you have to get through the medicine to get them."

She cracked an eye open just to glare at him. “Ugh, fine.” She rolled over and sat up, taking the small cup of medicine from Moonjumper and glaring at it too. After a long staring contest with the offensive substance, she tossed it back, wrinkling her nose dramatically. “This better work.”

They re-tucked her back in and waited for the medicine to take effect. She fussed for a little while, but it quickly became clear when the drowsiness took over. Snatcher leaned back against the pillows next to her, his own eyes drooping. It was times like this he really missed a proper sleep.

Moonjumper took their own place on her other side. At the very least they were both spirits so they wouldn’t risk making her overheat. Not ideal when they needed to keep her warm, but convenient for the moment. Snatcher reminded himself that the forest was safe, their child was safe, Moonjumper was right there. That internal mantra chased a small amount of the tension from him, and he closed his eyes fully, trying his best to relax.

It didn’t last overly long. He lost track of time, but it didn’t seem like too much time had passed before Hat Kid stirring under the blanket next to him roused him from his reverie. Snatcher blinked his eyes open and glanced down at her. Moonjumper was watching her with a frown.

Hat Kid was sweaty, but it was her pinched expression and the tears rolling down her cheeks that was more distressing. She turned herself over, and then back again, and then her eyes flicked open. She twitched and gasped before her gaze focused, and the fear transformed to confusion. Her shoulders rose and fell, revealing her heavy breathing, though she kept it quiet.

“What’s wrong, little one?” Moonjumper said, leaning over her and resting a hand on her shoulder.

Hat Kid wiped her face. “I thought…” She shook her head. “Just a bad dream.”

Snatcher refreshed the cloth and cleaned off the new layer of sweat that had gathered. “Vanessa?”

She nodded. “She got me and she was trying to freeze me, but I saw you and Moonjumper, and I was calling you, but you wouldn’t answer. But then somehow we got closer, and I saw you were already frozen and that’s why you weren’t answering.”

“Oh...kiddo.” He brushed a hand through her hair.

“Don’t worry, we’re here for real,” Moonjumper murmured.

“Yeah,” she said. She sank back down into the blanket, looking exhausted but tense. No doubt she was apprehensive about venturing back into the realm of slumber. Snatcher no longer missed sleep. He was under no illusions about how pleasant  _ his _ dreams would be if he could. 

She was holding Moonjumper’s hand, nestled against their other arm. She reached out to Snatcher with her other hand, and he took it. That old sense of domesticity returned to him again. Life was changing so fast these days, but here was the one constant that kept him grounded, the one who made him remember the parts of himself he had abandoned.

There was a nursery in the manor. He and Vanessa had been putting it together, piecemeal, whenever he had time off from the academy. It was something he had buried a long time ago, too painful to think of what future had been lost there. Yet here he was, comforting his frightened child, who still didn’t know he thought of her that way, and he was sitting across the bed from the person he least expected to be his counterbalance.

Three hundred years in tenuous equilibrium, just trying to keep the forest afloat from the encroaching tide of ice, trying to tell himself he just needed to be strong enough to fix it. He never imagined in that time that he could ever believe in change for the better. He never imagined he could find himself again, something more than the monster.

His voice came out softly, almost raspy, as a song from the old days of Subcon bubbled up. It was a song parents sang to their children back in the day, a well-known lullaby. It was a song he would have sung to the child who would have slept in that long-abandoned nursery. “ _ Underneath the starry light, Subcon Forest lies. _ ”

Moonjumper’s eyes widened and their head jerked up to look at him. Hat Kid, too, stirred, the tightness clearing from her features as she focused her attention on him.

“ _ Lean your weary head on me, rest your weary eyes. I’ll be here, there’s nothing to fear. I’ll watch over your dreams tonight. _ ”

As he paused after the first verse, Moonjumper’s clear, smooth voice broke in. “ _ Dance with me until the sun dips beneath the trees, while the music fills the air with tranquil harmonies. I’ll be here, always, my dear. I’ll sing until the morning comes. _ ”

Snatcher jumped back in for the final chorus, and their voices layered on top of each other, like two halves of a whole. “ _ Sleep now, Subcon, underneath the moon. Till the sunrise, I’ll watch over you. _ ”

He glanced at Moonjumper who gave him a small smile before turning their attention back to Hat Kid. She was listening, utterly enraptured, all previous discomfort forgotten. As they continued the song, Snatcher closed his eyes briefly. Just as he had when he played for her before, Snatcher channeled his feelings into the music. Would she sense the magic in the words? Could she hear the promise? He never wanted her cries to be unheard ever again, not in dreams, not in life.

“ _ Sleep well, Subcon, every night anew! Now; forever, I’ll be here for you. _ ”

Together they repeated the last verse, letting the quiet forest sounds filter back into the room to fill the following silence. Hat Kid softly clapped under the covers. “I always wanted to hear you sing together. I’m so happy.” She hunkered down into the mattress. Though she still held their hands, she no longer clung to them like lifelines as though she feared they would disappear.

“Good night, little one,” said Moonjumper.

  
Snatcher watched her close her eyes and her breathing even out. “Sleep well, kiddo.” _ We’ll be right here. _


	15. New story

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fresh start.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be honest with you, it's all just Soft from here on.

The first hint of sunlight filtering through the mist and the trees dappled the earth in golden flecks. That wasn’t a sentence anyone could say about Subcon Forest in over three hundred years, and yet, there it was. Moonjumper floated through the village, Snatcher just behind them, carrying Hat Kid in the crook of his arm.

No longer maintaining the supernatural fires and other safeguards meant Snatcher was steadily returning to his original strength, though he still refrained from using too much of his magic in the meantime. Hat Kid had recovered even faster, her cold vanishing within the day and her foot sporting only an ugly bruise. As the three meandered about to stretch their legs (so to speak), they surveyed the full extent of the changes taking place in the forest. Everywhere, the carpet of ice had receded.

The Subconites were chasing and stomping on the dancing spots of sun, enraptured by the mysterious new lights. One of them pounced and checked under their cupped hands, puzzled to find nothing there. Another cluster of minions trailed after Snatcher, chorusing with questions.

“What is all this, Boss?”

“The village looks so different!”

“Is everything okay?”

“It’s so pretty!”

“Did you do that?”

Moonjumper laughed quietly to themself as Snatcher grimaced, trying to field the commotion.

“It’s the sun, ya little hooligans. You know what that is.”

The Subconites continued to bounce around him. “But we never see it here!”

Snatcher noticed Moonjumper laughing and glared at them over the crowd. They covered their mouth and turned away, offering no assistance. Hat Kid was opting not to help him either, having buried her face into Snatcher’s side and shaking with laughter herself.

They probably should have at least offered some distraction from the onslaught, knowing he likely still had a lot on his mind. Hat Kid had offered them a reasonably detailed explanation of her motivations and what had happened to Vanessa, but they knew seeing the effects of it on the forest only served to make everything that much more real. Moonjumper themself didn’t really know what to make of it.

The combination of nostalgia and deja vu at seeing the smoke and fog clear and allow the sun to shine on the forest once more nearly overwhelmed them. They had long since resigned themself to seeing the forest as a burning, murky realm. Though the shadows still remained, it was now less shrouded, greens and golds starting to mix in and the toxic purple giving way to more serene deep blues and blacks. They kept staring at all the changes, as though blinking might make them suddenly vanish. While Moonjumper strove to avoid Snatcher’s level of cynicism, there were still some things that seemed too good to be true. Vanessa had been a lingering threat in the forest for so long. They had to constantly remind themself that the threat was gone, and without it, the forest could heal.  _ They _ could heal. Everyone.

Snatcher was still contending with the pestering Subconites.

“What happened to the queen? Will the sun always be here now? What happens next?”

“For crying out loud, you ask more questions than the kid! Can I please get some peace and quiet?”

“The queen is gone!” Hat Kid announced, and Snatcher groaned as a new barrage of questions poured in from the Subconites, demanding to know details and soundly ignoring his entreaties for silence.

“Alright, everyone, I still see ice in the village,” Moonjumper called out. “Some of you are slacking in your jobs, so no questions until it’s clean!”

“That’s right! What am I even paying you for? Get back to work!” Snatcher shouted. The minions scattered, setting about clearing the surrounding areas with the sort of haste children use when they are trying to finish a task solely for the promise of reward.

Snatcher caught up to Moonjumper. “You could have jumped in at any time, you know,” he muttered. “And you, quit riling them up.” He jostled Hat Kid on his arm.

“Someone had to tell them eventually,” she said with a grin.

“One thing at a time, kiddo. I can barely keep up.”

Her face fell at his subdued admission. “Sorry.”

“It’s not your fault. I...just need a moment. Or three.”

“Maybe we should find somewhere a little quieter,” Moonjumper suggested. “The Subconites won’t be distracted for long.” Just then a cherry bomb went off, making the three of them flinch. They looked in the direction of the noise. Off in the far end of the village, a group of minions and Dwellers jumped around cheering, having shattered a large ice fragment.

Snatcher gritted his teeth at the sight. “Agh, you’re right. Let’s beat it.”

They continued their stroll along the forest path. It brought Moonjumper back to their routine walks with Hat Kid. She was fidgeting with the badges attached to her hat, clearly longing to race around through the trees as she normally did on those walks, but they had warned her to avoid heavy impacts with her foot until the bruise and tenderness had faded more.

“Okay, kid, I can already hear the twenty questions waiting. Shoot.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Hat Kid blurted the instant Snatcher gave her permission to fire away. “You really didn’t look good when we got back. You just left.”

Moonjumper remembered. Much like the last time Snatcher abruptly ran off, Hat Kid wanted to follow, but in her state of health, Moonjumper had expressly forbade it. At least the strain of the ordeal with Vanessa had tired her enough that it wasn’t hard to coax her to sleep to give them a chance to find Snatcher themself. It had deeply unsettled them, seeing him collapsed amid a crowd of frantic Subconites in the middle of the village, eyes half-lidded and dim. It had taken them a distressingly long time to rouse him back to awareness of his present surroundings.

“I...I’m better now,” Snatcher replied. “I overdid it on the magic.” He paused, clearly uncomfortable.

Moonjumper watched him. They didn’t want to speak over him about his own feelings, but they knew it wasn’t his physical exhaustion that he struggled to talk about.

“Listen, kid, I-that was the first time I came face to face with Vanessa since...well, you know. And I thought you were dying...dead. Again.” A nervous laugh shuddered out of him. “As you can imagine, I was not enjoying myself.” He shot a glance at Moonjumper before continuing. “You know I’m not good at the feelings thing. It was a lot. Kind of still is.”

“It is a lot,” Moonjumper said quietly. The section of the forest they now traveled through was more sheltered, and it more closely resembled the classic Subcon scenery. The familiarity was comforting. From Snatcher’s slightly less tense posture, it seemed he felt similarly. “For me too, it’s a lot. So much has changed so quickly. It’s hard to figure out where to go from here.”

“Ohh,” said Hat Kid. She put her hand to her chin. “Why did you disappear again?”

Snatcher huffed out a sigh. “Like I said, I was not having a good time. I didn’t want you to see me like that.”

“Why not? I was even more worried when you vanished!”

He laughed bitterly. “Kid, trust me on this one. It would have been worse if I broke down right in front of you.”

Hat Kid stared at her toes. “I guess I understand.”

“It’s not because of a lack of trust in you,” Moonjumper interjected, worried she might get the wrong idea. “But sometimes you need to be alone for these things. Worrying about someone else worrying about you piles on top of everything else. It can get to be too much.” Not to mention, it would have  _ scared _ her, they knew, to see Snatcher in that condition. It had kind of scared them. They had both agreed with the promise to be more open with her for her peace of mind, but some things you just didn’t want a child to see, especially not your child.

She nodded with an expression so serious that it would have been comical in a different situation. “Yeah, I get it. Sometimes things are personal. You don’t have to tell me everything all the time. I know I don’t want to always talk about everything all the time too.”

“Thanks, kiddo.”

Surprisingly, Hat Kid did not ask any more questions. Perhaps she was sensitive to the fact that Snatcher was still pretty worn out. Moonjumper hoped that they had successfully convinced her that she no longer needed to always take matters into her own hands. Maybe one day she could kick back, realize the three of them were a team now. At least they hoped it was the three of them. There had never been an explicit acknowledgment, but Snatcher now seemed accustomed to and even expected their presence. Moonjumper doubted he’d call them “friend” yet, seeing as he only barely started using their chosen name, but it was a start. Well, they were used to being patient. This was already better than most of the last centuries.

The charred grounds of the forest where the flames used to burn high still released plumes of smoke, but they were wearing thin, filtering up out of the canopy. “It’s not as spooky anymore,” Hat Kid said, swiveling her head around to survey the altered scenery.

“Ugh, great. How am I going to keep intruders out? Heaven forbid we get  _ tourists, _ ” Snatcher growled.

Moonjumper smirked. “We were going to start all those scary rumors about you, remember?”

Snatcher scoffed. “Yeah and you’ll also remember I had complete faith in that.”

“See, so you agree.”

“Well, maybe we can still make it look scary again, but without all the ice this time,” mused Hat Kid. “But I kind of liked seeing the sun in the village. It  _ was _ really pretty. Plus the Subconites liked it too.”

“You know,” said Moonjumper, “that idea might not be half bad.”

“Half bad? It’s a great idea!” Hat Kid said, sticking her tongue out.

“Yes, my dear.” Moonjumper chuckled. “But truly, what do you say, Snatcher?”

“To what? Redecorating?”

“Yes! Think about it. It’s a chance for a fresh start, to reimagine Subcon however you want it. Set it on its path into the future.” Moonjumper wasn’t entirely sure what Snatcher’s vision of Subcon’s future was. Perhaps he was still grappling with it now. All the more reason to try and bring it to life physically. And perhaps he would allow them some input, if they were lucky.

A part of them longed to see it go back to the way it was, when things were green and vibrant, reflecting the life and liveliness of the kingdom. They doubted he’d want the same thing, though, and it probably wasn’t the healthiest choice to try and rewind the forest after all the things that scarred it. But perhaps they could find a balance.

“I don’t know…” Snatcher stared off into the smoldering undergrowth.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to. It was just an idea,” said Hat Kid.

“I need to think about it,” he said quietly.

The path they were currently traveling on would soon take them toward the river...and the bridge, so they doubled back and wandered back to the hollow. Hat Kid sprawled herself out on the big table in Snatcher’s room with her notebook and crayons. Snatcher occupied himself in his usual way with a book while Moonjumper sat next to Hat Kid, humming idly as they watched her color.

Hat Kid’s drawings seemed abstract initially, as drawings tend to begin, so Moonjumper spent the early part of it guessing what she was attempting to depict. She cycled through the crayons with decisive intentionality, tossing them aside with a clatter when she was through with them and snatching up the next in the same sharp motion. Whatever she was creating, she had a clear vision in mind.

Eventually, as she filled in the loose shapes with shading, the scene began to crystallize. Moonjumper first figured out it was the village. Hat Kid made sure to include the golden flecks of sunlight that she and the Subconites had been so enamored with. But she wasn’t just depicting the scenery as it already was--she embellished it with pretty lights, thorny vines and mushrooms. A stone path wound through the center in place of the muddy stream, and the homes were whole and unbroken.

“Oh,” they murmured as they watched the image come together over the course of the hour.

Hat Kid peeked up at them. “Just a dream,” she whispered, shuffling the paper over to them shyly.

They held it up. “A beautiful dream,” they said, feeling their eyes welling up. Moonjumper shot a glance at Snatcher, who was engrossed in his book, unaware of the revelation happening at his table. “May I?” they asked Hat Kid.

She nodded.

“Snatcher, have a look.”

“What?” He blinked a few times, pulling himself out of the text. He floated over to the table and took the drawing from Moonjumper.

Snatcher stared at it for a long time, face going from mild curiosity to recognition to wonder. He turned to Hat Kid. “You did all this? Just off the top of your head?”

She turtled her face into her high collar. “Yeah.”

Snatcher looked at the drawing again for another while. “It looks…”

“Alive,” Moonjumper said.

“Yeah,” he breathed. “Yeah…”

* * *

Over the course of several days, the forest continued its thaw. The air freshened as the breeze carried away the remainder of the smoke. Snatcher steadily regained his strength, and Hat Kid continued to draw. Each time she finished, Snatcher hung the drawing up on his wall above the chair which was increasingly resembling a fully-fledged gallery.

She drew the village several times, embellishing the houses with decorations, lights, and flowers. Flowers. They used to be all over the town, numerous special blooms that only grew in the forest, specially adapted. Perhaps this could be a place where flowers bloomed again. Just the thought of them made Moonjumper’s heart ache. Then things would really have come full circle.

Snatcher didn’t talk very much during those days. Moonjumper could tell he was trying his best to indulge Hat Kid, but eventually, they pulled her aside.

“Why don’t we look at the stars? Just the two of us? The view should be beautiful now that there’s no smog.”

She stole a glance at Snatcher who had his book open but his eyes closed, lost in thought again.

They could guess his feelings, because they were likely the same feelings Moonjumper was having. It’s not that they  _ missed _ Vanessa or that they still loved her. They didn’t, and they weren’t lying to themself about it, and they didn’t think anything would change it. But once upon a time, there had been love, and it had been their whole world. Her presence in the manor was, in a way, a memorial to that time, a reminder--albeit a corrupted one--of what things had once been. Now that the anchor to the past was gone, the only thing left was relentless momentum toward a brand new future. They, and Snatcher, had a gaping blank space to fill. It was time to write a new story.

“He’ll be right here when we get back,” they said softly. As much as Snatcher adored Hat Kid, Moonjumper knew he needed some time to his melancholy. The sudden shift to giving her his full attention was taxing for someone who was used to centuries of alone time, especially when he was processing emotions that he’d never processed before. Eventually she allowed them to pull her into their arms and spiral up to the top of Snatcher’s tree.

The sky was indeed breathtaking. Now completely unobscured, it arced overhead, reminding them of the night of the seaside fair. But Subcon’s sky lacked the light pollution of the town, and in its place, the stars blazed blue and silver. Not a single patch of night remained undotted by the twinkling lights, so bright it felt more like shrouded daylight. Both Moonjumper and Hat Kid stared with their mouths hanging open. A shooting star darted across their vision.

“Make a wish,” Moonjumper whispered. Hat Kid squeezed her eyes shut for a second and then bobbed her head.

“What did you wish for?” she asked.

“It’s bad luck to tell,” they replied. “Then the wish won’t come true.

She scrunched her face up. “That doesn’t sound very scientific.”

Moonjumper laughed. “It’s not. But it’s true.”

Hat Kid crossed her arms. “Well I’m not telling you mine if you aren’t going to say yours.”

“Then we can both have our wishes granted.” They grinned at her.

As much as she aired her skepticism, Hat Kid did not ask again, nor did she admit her wish. Whoever made up the old superstition, Moonjumper understood them. Wishes were such fragile things, not meant to be looked at directly. All Moonjumper wanted was for the three of them to be happy together, whatever that ended up looking like.

“I got used to seeing the stars from my ship,” Hat Kid said, kicking her legs as they dangled over the edge of the glowing mushroom they were sitting on. “But it feels different looking up at them like this. Even though in space I’m in the middle of them, they feel closer now.”

“I think I understand what you mean. It’s like being under a blanket.”

“Yeah! Or like a hug.”

Moonjumper held her tighter, nestling their chin on top of her hat. “Indeed! I like that.”

“Oh, there’s Orion.” Hat Kid pointed up at the three bright dots in a line. “Snatcher told me that red star over there is called Betelgeuse, but I still think he’s tricking me.”

“No, I think he’s right. I’ve heard of that one before. He’s the one with all the astronomy books, though. I just like to look at them.”

Hat Kid hummed. “Wow, he was actually being honest.” She fell silent. “Unless you’re in on the joke too.”

Moonjumper guffawed, pitching forward and nearly toppling them off the mushroom. “Trust me, my dear, if I were involved, the joke would surely be on him.”

She giggled. “That’s probably true. But you two seem like you’re good friends now.”

“Ah, well, I wouldn’t say friends yet and much less good ones. I’d like to think so, of course. But you know how he is.”

“Boy, do I,” said Hat Kid. “But I think he thinks you’re a friend. He just doesn’t wanna admit it.”

She had been right before. In a way, Hat Kid seemed more in tune with Snatcher than Moonjumper was. Understandable, seeing as he had been more open with her for a longer period of time. “Well, I’d like to believe you’re right,” they said.

“I just can’t figure out how to make him feel better. I know you both said I don’t have to fix everything, but is there really nothing I can do?” She flopped her arms into her lap.

“Sometimes, it’s not so much about doing and more about being. Some problems can’t really be fixed, per se, but it’s comforting to them to know you are there, and you care about them.”

In the early days with Vanessa, when things were new and still good, she and the Prince would often sit together, enjoying each other’s company. Those were always the best memories. This, too, sitting under the radiant night with Hat Kid in their lap and listening to the whispering of leaves in the wind, was a moment to write into their heart.

“Just be there? That’s all?”

“Yes, that can often mean more than any gift or favor.” 

“I can do that,” Hat Kid said.

When they retired, Moonjumper put Hat Kid to bed, and Snatcher made a brief appearance for the event, and the two of them returned to the lower level. Moonjumper expected Snatcher to return directly to his book, but instead he faced the wall, staring at Hat Kid’s gallery. Moonjumper sidled up to join him.

“Good artist, that kid,” Snatcher said.

“Wonderfully good.”

He pulled down a drawing of the forest in each hand. Moonjumper watched him almost audibly ponder.

“It might be good, starting fresh. It doesn’t have to be like how it was,” they prompted quietly.

“Never could be.” Snatcher stared hard at the drawing, gaze piercing straight through it. He opened his mouth but couldn’t manage to say anything for a second. He tried again. “I should be happier.  _ She’s _ gone. We’re free. We’re safe.” He lifted a hand and pressed his temple. “What’s wrong with me?”

Moojumper’s brow furrowed. They floated closer, though they hesitated to reach out just yet. “Nothing’s wrong with you.”

Snatcher looked at them with a dry expression.

They waved a hand with a shrug. “I mean, nothing particularly in this case.” They sighed. “You think I’m not in over my head right now too?”

He snorted. “I can never tell with you.”

“Well, I’m telling you now.”

“Right…” He started shifting, slowly taking the form of the Prince so that the two of them were eye level. He stuck the drawings back onto the wall and stared down at his shadowy five-fingered hands. They both stood there for a long time. Snatcher remained statuesque, shoulders tense. “I guess I never-” He broke off, a hand shooting up to cover his mouth as he bowed his head suddenly, other hand clenching.

Moonjumper stopped holding back and put an arm around him. They kept their gaze fixed on the wall over his trembling shoulder as they fought against their own tears.

“She took everything,” Snatcher ground out through shuddering breaths. “I loved her, despite everything. And she just-” He sank down to his knees, dragging Moonjumper downward inadvertently. “She destroyed it.”

“I know.” Moonjumper’s own voice shook. They squeezed their eyes shut, letting the tears burn down their face. A sob shuddered up from their chest. Moonjumper thought they had run through the gauntlet of grief, ridden its currents and come out the other end, but revisiting it just laid bare the fact that it had remained dormant in them, always waiting. “I remember.”

_ You don’t have to explain, _ they would have said, if their voice would work. They each had their ways of coping, trying to make sense of a life beyond life, trying to answer a question that refused to be answered: Why did she do it? Before the Prince died, in those agonizing hours chained in the cellar, it had been a clamoring mantra. Why, why, why? Why couldn’t she let him speak? Why couldn’t she trust him? Moonjumper spent so much time disengaging from those memories. Those belonged to the Prince, to Snatcher, not them. That wasn’t who they were, those feelings didn’t control them. Accept it, let it lie, move on.

But it wasn’t true, was it? They couldn’t disconnect from their identity any more than Snatcher could. That was their sad story, it was part of them. And despite all their history together, it was now and always had been the bridge connecting them to Snatcher.

“You were right,” Snatcher rasped, “back then in that forest. I never...I never let myself just be hurt.”

Moonjumper nodded. The two of them were huddled up against each other, too tired and emotional to bother with worrying about personal space. If they hadn’t been friends before, it would be hard to argue with it now.

“I kept wishing there was something I could have done differently,” Snatcher continued. “But it kept coming back to the same end.” He hissed through his teeth. “I  _ hated _ it. And I hate that I still missed her after all of it.”

“We missed what we had, a long time ago,” Moonjumper said, staring vacantly at the wall. “When things were good. We literally gave our life to her.” How long had it taken them to figure out who they were outside of all of that? Who had the Prince been, outside of Vanessa? And where did that leave Moonjumper?

Snatcher held his face in his hands. “How messed up are we?”

Moonjumper huffed a weak laugh. “Very.”

Snatcher lifted his head up, looking back at the drawings on the wall. “I’ve been so out of it these last several days. The kid…I-”

“She’s worried about you, nothing new. But we talked about it. She trusts you to reach out when you’re ready.”

“Heh. Trust, huh?” His mouth curved up slightly. “You know I spent so much time wishing all of it never happened. But then, we never would have met her, would we? That kid.”

“No. And I wouldn’t even be here.”

“Yeah.”

Neither of them moved for another while. Moonjumper’s eyes started glazing over.

“You’re right,” Snatcher said again. “We do need a fresh start. Things here have been stuck for so long but now there’s a future. We need a Subcon she can grow up in.” He turned to them. “Tomorrow.”

His implication took a half moment to sink in. A weary but broad smile broke across Moonjumper’s face; not their usual toothy grin but open and hopeful. Snatcher didn’t match the expression, instead looking serious and determined.

“Tomorrow,” Moonjumper echoed, their spirit fluttering with excitement.

The two of them settled down from the emotions, sitting quietly next to each other on the floor, leaned against Snatcher’s armchair. Eventually, Snatcher managed to shapeshift back and curled himself up on his chair, closing his eyes and dozing. Moonjumper took the hint and left to give him some space. If they were really going to overhaul the village the next day, Snatcher would need to rest as much as possible. Moonjumper found a ledge overlooking the village and eagerly awaited the dawn.

* * *

Would it ever become mundane again to actually see the encroaching sunrise in the forest again? Moonjumper couldn’t believe it. They had sat in their roost above the village, in half a meditative state all through the night, and now the entire forest bathed in the ambient blue wash of the morning. The canopy was too thick to reveal the sky so the color filtered in as soft as water.

The Subconites who had been idling and dozing with little better to do began to stir at the sight. Moonjumper descended from their vantage point, just as the Subconites all began reveling in the enchanting scenery.

“Oh, hi, it’s the Boss’s nemesis!” they chorused.

“ _ Former _ nemesis, but otherwise I’m flattered,” Moonjumper said with a smirk. “You can always call me Moonjumper. I believe that’s easier to say.”

Several of the Subconites counted out the syllables on their stumpy hands. “Hey, you’re right, that’s better! Moonjumper! Moonjumper!” They all scattered around the village as the light steadily changed with the breaking day.

Moonjumper laughed to themself as the minions played and squabbled over the rare spots of sunbeam to lie in, and each time seemed appalled when the beam of light moved with the passage of the sun, allowing someone else to take over their sunning spot. When the shadows twisted and coalesced, everyone nearby jumped up in alarm before Snatcher materialized from the ground, looking far more settled than the nights leading up. Hat Kid sat in her usual perch on his shoulder.

He narrowed his eyes at Moonjumper. “There you are. We wasted a bunch of time waiting around for you.”

They glanced at the Subconites with a stifled smile. “Sorry, got a bit distracted.”

“We didn’t burn breakfast this time!” Hat Kid announced proudly.

Moonjumper applauded. “Oh-ho! Quite an improvement.” Soup had been easy the first time, but Hat Kid couldn’t eat canned soup for every meal, so the trio had been experimenting. She was no better at cooking than they and Snatcher were, so several pieces of toast, eggs, cheese, and more had been sacrifices to the flames.

“Yeah, no help from you,” Snatcher said.

“Well clearly you managed.”

Hat Kid slid down from Snatcher’s shoulder, pulling a handful of her drawings out from her storage. She jumped up and down. “This is so exciting!”

“Alright, kiddo, save your energy for when we actually start.” Snatcher reared up and cupped his hands around his mouth, shouting out for the Subconites’ attention. “Everyone get over here! We got a big project!”

The crowd of Subconites streamed toward them from around the village like ants. “What is it, Boss?”

Snatcher nudged Hat Kid forward, and she held up her drawings. “We’re gonna make the village pretty again!” she declared.

“Start leveling out the center and clear out the detritus,” Snatcher commanded, and the Subconites divided themselves into teams and set about their preparations. He approached Moonjumper. “Think you can spin up a blueprint?”

They called their threads to them, already getting started. “I’ll see what I can do.” Moonjumper wove a tapestry in shades of red depicting the village and marking out where the old homes and trees stood.

Hat Kid pointed at the map, winding her finger through the central clearing. “So we can make the main street through here after we fill in the stream.”

“Very good.” Moonjumper stitched in a path that followed the line she had traced.

“The town square used to be here, where that big puddle is,” Snatcher said in a low voice.

“I remember,” Moonjumper said, just as quietly. They added in an outline for that. The three of them continued in this way, sketching out the ideas and filling in the gaps in the blueprint while the Subconites and Dwellers filled in the sunken sections of the village where centuries of ice had worn away the originally even ground. The commotion drew the attention of other itinerant creatures and spirits. Fire spirits grinned from the periphery of the fenceline and giant spiders crept overhead, all watching curiously.

Snatcher glared at the fire spirits. “Ugh, these little pests. You’d think they’d leave by now without the constant burning. As if life could be that easy.”

“Aw, they’re nice if you talk to them. A little weird, but they’re nice. They don’t want to mess with you,” said Hat Kid.

Snatcher’s lip curled. “They’re not staying in my village, if that’s what you’re implying.”

She just gave him a deadpan look. “Just build a big bonfire where you want them to go. All they do is dance anyway.”

“There’s a nice big bonfire way up in the sky they can go to.”

“Ugh! Nevermind.” Hat Kid rolled her eyes. “Anyways, first we have to fix up the houses, and then we can actually decorate.”

“Shall I put a pin in the fire spirit discussion?” Moonjumper asked dryly.

“A pin, a sword even, straight through the heart,” Snatcher muttered.

Snatcher’s entirely personal vendetta against the fire spirits aside, the rebuilding of the village chugged along. Once the three of them were satisfied with their blueprint, they took to helping the Subconites with the rest of the labor. Fallen trees were lifted and cleared, and Moonjumper set about slicing the logs up into usable lumber to help reframe the houses that had crumbled down to their foundations.

Hat Kid, with her alien strength, helped the Subconites gather piles of stone, and Snatcher used the materials to actually recompile the houses one by one. He held his hands out and an entire cloud of rocks zoomed over to the empty frame of a house. The stones converged, snapping together to fill in the walls, and then Moonjumper wove thatching onto the roofs, binding them in with tight stitches that they infused with their magic, similar to Hat Kid’s special blanket they had made.

While they worked, Hat Kid took her occasional meal breaks, munching on sandwiches she had packed and watching Moonjumper and Snatcher rebuild each house. They continued well beyond the sunset, and begrudgingly, Snatcher did indeed set up some bonfires around the village, and the fire spirits gathered, their antics lighting up the clearing in a brilliant scarlet glow.

Moonjumper smirked to themself. Not a single entity in the forest besides Hat Kid needed light after dark.

“How are you holding up?” Moonjumper asked Snatcher quietly after they had finished a little over a dozen buildings.

“Fine.”

“Fine-fine? Or I’m-just-saying-fine-fine?”

He made a face. “Fine-fine! I’ll tell you when I’m not!”

“O-kay,” Moonjumper said in a sing-song.

“I’m paying attention to it,” he muttered.

Moonjumper’s expression softened, though they didn’t take their focus from their work. “I’m glad.”

Hat Kid had long since knocked out in a cuddle pile of Subconites by the time Snatcher opted to call it a night.

“What are you all doing? You don’t need sleep,” Snatcher hissed at the minions. A few turned lazily to him.

“We couldn’t let Newbie sleep on the muddy ground, Boss.”

“Yeah, it’s uncomfy!”

“And lonely.”

Snatcher grumbled, but there was no edge to it. “You just wanted an excuse to laze about, didn’t you?” He lightly swatted them aside and picked up the snoozing Hat Kid who only shifted and mumbled in his arms. “You coming?” he asked Moonjumper.

They floated up next to him, and he put a hand on their shoulder and took them back to the hollow.

It took three more days of continuous work before they completed the rebuilding phase of the village. It was sparse at the moment, still much decorating in between its current state and the vision from Hat Kid’s drawings, but already it was so much more alive. The Subconites had tamped down flat stones and clay into the main boulevard that cut through the clusters of buildings and the burgeoning town square. Snatcher had spent some time in his lab cutting sheets of colorful glass to fix into the windows of the buildings. Hat Kid added her own unique flair by wiring power through the village, donating another of her time pieces to install deep in the center as a permanent source of energy.

“That way you can give it mood lighting,” she said.

“Are you sure you want to use one of your time pieces, kid? I know how important they are to you.” Snatcher leaned over to watch her bury the power core.

“ _ This _ is important,” she said, continuing her work.

And so it was in this way that the restoration of Subcon village was finished. Moonjumper admired their collective efforts. It was familiar enough to evoke pangs of nostalgia that brought tears to their eyes. Once again, little hooded figures scampered between the houses and glimmering lights shone on the square. Moonjumper had crafted lanterns to house the strings of lights Hat Kid had engineered just for the occasion. The two of them worked together to create banners and tapestries to drape over the buildings and walls as well, each spinning power and magic into the threads.

At the same time, the village was different enough that they couldn’t mistake it for the past. The hooded figures were not children but spirits, and the numerous frights of the forest had gathered and begun to make their residences. Giant spiders and bats huddled in the new rafters, fire spirits spun trails of smoke along the perimeter. (There had been a compromise about their presence). Though the clearer air now invited in the sky, Hat Kid had paid careful attention to Subcon’s current aesthetic with her designs. The lanterns and glowing mushrooms cast eerie purple and blue glows that clashed with the radiant orange of the fire spirits outside, cutting tremulous shadows across every surface, sometimes soft, sometimes sharp with every flicker of the light. The village looked properly haunted, but haunted by spirits who cherished it.

Moonjumper could have sat in the square for days.

“The houses are yours,” Snatcher told the Subconites. “Decorate them how you want, just don’t break anything, especially not the lanterns.”

“F-for us, Boss? All of it?”

Snatcher rubbed the back of his mane. “Yeah, obviously. Who else is gonna live in it? I already told you I’m not running a bed and breakfast.”

He was instantly inundated with an avalanche of wailing Subconites, all climbing on top of him and hugging him.

“Agh! Get off you little cretins!”

“Bossssss!” they cried in unison.

Hat Kid toppled onto Moonjumper, the two of them laughing hysterically at the sight of the Subconites dogpiling Snatcher who had resigned himself and lay on the ground shaking his head in his hands. He looked up at them, pointing furiously. “You two! All you do is revel in my suffering!”

Moonjumper and Hat Kid fully collapsed onto the ground at that point, still howling. With no help from them, Snatcher eventually extricated himself from the Subconites, though largely because they eventually started breaking off to call dibs on the houses. He made a show of dusting himself off.

“So much for helping me in my time of need.” He glared at them.

Moonjumper only returned with a sly smile. “There’s no need to pretend you didn’t enjoy it too.”

“I need to maintain some semblance of authority or they’ll go out of control.”

“Whatever you say,” said Moonjumper. They returned to surveying the village. “I don’t know about you, but this turned out better than I could have dreamed.” They reached out and put a hand on Hat Kid’s shoulder. “It’s wonderful. Thank you.”

Snatcher was quiet a moment. “There’s one other thing,” he said. He reached out his hand to them, and both Moonjumper and Hat Kid took it, giving him a curious look.

When the shadows fell away again, they were on the other side of the broken bridge. Without the giant ice wall blockading the manor, they could see across the entire expansive clearing where it once stood. Much of the snow still remained, still too thick of a layer to have melted so quickly, but it was open, silent.

“What’s on your mind?” Moonjumper asked.

Snatcher didn’t look at them, his smile faded out to something somber and pensive. He held a hand out to them again. “This one I can’t do alone.”

While he hadn’t answered their question, this gesture spoke volumes. They took his hand.

Instantly, he summoned a surge of magic--one so powerful Moonjumper knew immediately he’d be winded by the end of whatever he had planned. Just as they had when they helped him construct Hat Kid’s bed, they summoned their own magic, weaving it through the gaps of Snatcher’s. Again they could sense his intent, and their eyes widened--they focused on strengthening the flow of magic so he could see his plan through.

Snatcher set his hands on the ground, sending the magic pulsing through the earth. It fanned out along the perimeter of the clearing, making the outline glow yellow. From the broad ring, thorny branches burst out of the ground, responding to Snatcher’s call. They twisted with each other, interlocking as they grew, and steadily a thick wall of brambles rose up to surround the clearing. They continued in their ascent, arcing toward the center of the clearing until they formed an impenetrable dome. Once the brambles had completely interlocked and closed off the clearing completely, Snatcher disengaged his magic, sinking down with a heavy sigh.

Hat Kid ran over immediately. “Are you okay?”

He patted her on the head, giving her a reassuring smile. “Yeah, kiddo. I’ll be fine. Gonna need to rest that one off, but I had to.” Snatcher turned back to the new barricade and opened a pocket dimension. Into his hand dropped a bundle of pressed flowers. Moonjumper inhaled sharply. They recognized those. Subcon Winterblooms. They came in many colors, unusual for their tendency to spring up right out of the frost. One of the many species the florist used to have on display. Snatcher placed the flowers on the bramble wall and twisted a thin branch through the withered blooms. He retreated back so he was in line with Moonjumper and Hat Kid once more.

“We can go now,” he breathed. “It’s over.”


	16. Happy birthday, Hat Kid!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The kid needs a birthday. All children of Subcon have one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the second to the last update. Pretty unrefined since I didn't have time to do much editing because I'm working two jobs now. Next week, I plan to update 17 and 18 together, since 18 is an epilogue. That is, I'll update them if I manage to revise 17 in time, because it's not satisfactory at the moment. It's not bad, but for being the penultimate chapter, it could really be better. If I'm late to update next week, it's because I'm still not happy with it.
> 
> But anyways, here's the moment you've all been waiting for, let's be real.

Snatcher furrowed his brow as he looked down at Hat Kid. “What do you mean, you don’t have a birthday?” Somehow it had come up in conversation, as he idled with her and Moonjumper in the newly reconstructed village, watching the minions scurry between the houses.

She shrugged. “We’re space travelers! Birthdays here are just relative to the orbital passes of the planet around a star, right? I mean, I was born on a day in some system, but I dunno what that translates to here.”

“Yeah, but that still means you  _ have _ one, in some galactic time zone.”

“I guess. I don’t know it though. We don’t really keep track of age like that, since space travel can affect relative time too, so we don’t even all age at the same rate.”

Moonjumper turned to her when she said that and then shared a bewildered glance with Snatcher, who just shook his head slowly.

“That’s  _ mind-boggling, _ ” he groaned.

“So,” Moonjumper started, squinting hard off into space, “do you know how old you are?”

Hat Kid shrugged again, making an “I dunno” sound. “Kid age?” She took in their baffled expressions. “Well, why’s it so important anyway?”

Snatcher ruffled a hand through his mane. “I guess it isn’t, really. I mean I suppose I don’t really remember how old I am either. You lose track of the years after the first hundred or so, especially when you don’t age anymore.”

“Still, birthday celebrations were a big deal in the kingdom,” Moonjumper said. “We used to hold parties each season for the children in the village.”

“Parties?” Hat Kid’s eyes widened. “Just for kids?”

“Yes, after coming-of-age, you had more duties to attend to, so the adults spent more time setting up and running the parties,” Moonjumper explained.

“I like parties,” Hat Kid said. She mused for a moment. “You Earth people are a lot better at having fun ones.”

Moonjumper frowned. “Surely, your people celebrated something.”

“Yeah, I guess, but all the grown ups who took care of me were researchers and business people and they just liked to talk about space and resources and blah blah. Only the maintenance crews were good at playing. I had some fun with them, but I think they didn’t always want to have a kid around.”

“That’s nuts,” Snatcher said. “I’m amazed you know how to have any fun at all.”

“Course I do,” she said with a huff. “That’s what kids are good at, and I had a  _ ton _ of free time. What was I supposed to do, sit around and wait for them to pay attention to me?”

It somewhat explained why she was so bold and self-directed. The kid already had a lot of energy built-in, and her life was a constant fight for attention. No wonder she tended to be impulsive and flashy. It was no proper life for a kid, especially not one who shone as brightly as her.

Snatcher watched her as she told him and Moonjumper a story of how she got in big trouble for accidentally shutting down power for half a day because she was exploring the power systems of the facility she was raised in.

The haunts of his past life had been wiped off the face of the earth in a process he barely understood, and now they were sitting in a resurrected version of the village he once remembered and loved. Vanessa was gone--truly gone--and the existential threat to the forest along with her. Who was he now, without that? Who could he be, now that they were all free?

The thought had made his head spin, ever since the night Hat Kid eliminated Vanessa and the manor. Whether it was before he died or after, Vanessa had been the one defining his existence. Everything he was had belonged to her, as much as he tried to fight it after death. Ultimately, everything he had done had still been motivated by her. Loving her, or hating her, she had still been the one in control. And now, suddenly...she wasn’t.

Hat Kid and Moonjumper were watching him, and Snatcher realized he hadn’t been reacting to the conversation the way he was supposed to. Hat Kid didn’t say anything, but her expression asked the question she had been asking him constantly for several weeks now:  _ are you okay? _

“Heh, got distracted by the minions behind you,” he said. “So you took out the lights in the whole building? Nice one, kiddo. Knew you were a disaster artist from the start.”

“Hey! How was I supposed to know it would happen? They shouldn’t have made it so easy to get into.”

“That’s the spirit! Never take responsibility for a liability.” The jokes distracted her enough that she continued her story, though Moonjumper definitely eyed him for a second longer before returning their attention to her.

They would probably talk to him later. That was fine. He had something to say to them too. Somehow, between the disastrous shipwreck debacle and now, Snatcher had started to depend on them increasingly, and he wasn’t sure how it happened. Now, though, he couldn’t imagine trying to take care of the kid without them. To try to deal with his own frayed emotions while making sure Hat Kid was happy and well would have been too much to handle alone. Snatcher did not doubt that he would have screwed up that juggling trick immediately and toppled the entire house of cards from under his feet. Moonjumper gave him just enough space to sort himself out.

For once, Snatcher actually felt like there was a future to believe in.

After Hat Kid went to sleep, Moonjumper made to head back to the village where they liked to spend their quiet hours.

Snatcher followed. “You mind?”

Moonjumper looked surprised but pleased. “Not at all.”

They traveled there normally, rather than teleporting. The forest had continued its transformation after the loss of Vanessa. The overgrowth still remained, but it had a more naturally haunted look, saturated by age and memory rather than corrupted by bitterness.

“I have an idea,” Snatcher said, after they wandered in silence for a while. He was coiled up next to Moonjumper on the overlook they favored, and the two of them watched the Subconites playing in the village, now eternally lit by the lanterns Hat Kid had made and powered with her time piece. Snatcher loved those lanterns. That she had willingly sacrificed another of her time pieces to the cause just hammered home that she was making a home there, in his forest, with him. With all of them.

“Mm?”

“The kid needs a birthday,” he said. “All children of Subcon have one.”

Moonjumper turned to him. “Yes, they do.” They waited.

“Legally, she’s not a child of Subcon, but…”

Moonjumper smiled, so wide it made them squint. “But who makes the laws?”

“Heh. I have a contract. I was wondering if you would co-sign on it.”

They reached out and put a hand on his shoulder, still grinning wide enough to split the heavens. “Finally.”

* * *

“Snaaatcherrr, I won’t peek, I promise.”

He was holding Hat Kid close, his arms wrapped around her and tucking her against his mane so she couldn’t see where he was taking her.

“Not taking any chances, kiddo. Don’t want to ruin the surprise.”

“Ughhhhh, hurry up, I want to see,” she whined.

He chuckled. “We’re getting there.”

“Why can’t we just teleport? Are you tired again?”

“No, I just knew it would drive you crazy to go the long way.”

“Oh!” She squirmed, trying to escape, but he managed to hold onto her. “Peck-neck!”

He snickered. “Hah! Hold still, kid! It’ll be worth it, I promise.” They got to the edge of the village where Moonjumper and the Subconites were waiting. Moonjumper grinned toothily, clasping their hands together. They bobbed their head at him, and Snatcher released Hat Kid.

She sprung away and was ready to sprint off when she took in the sight of the village and skidded to a halt, head tilting back as she stared at all the decorations. The Subconites had decked out the town to match the old birthday festivities from before the Freeze with the guidance of Moonjumper and Snatcher. Moonjumper had gone out to get flowers to decorate the houses, and Snatcher had made an allowance for the fire spirits to put on a light show in the square. A banner hung over the front of the village, spanning the main street. HAPY BRITHDay, it read. The last two letters had to be squeezed in at the bottom corner, since the spacing had clearly not been planned well.

Snatcher leaned down next to her, smirking at her open-mouthed stare. “Welcome to the Subcon Birthday Festival, kid.”

Hat Kid looked at him, mouth still hanging open, and then to Moonjumper who floated over and held their arms out wide. She bounced into their embrace and they spun her around, laughing.

“You made this for me?” she asked.

“Yes! You may come from another world, but we couldn’t let you miss out on a proper birthday party,” Moonjumper said as they set her back down.

“Newbie!” the Subconites cried. “Happy birthday! You’re gonna love it! It’s so much fun!”

“I want to see!” Hat Kid sprinted after the Subconites who led her farther into the village, while Snatcher and Moonjumper followed a ways back.

“Nice work,” Snatcher said. “I’m guessing the minions did the banner. I hope.”

Moonjumper gave him a sidelong smile. “Why, what’s wrong with it? I think it’s beautifully asymmetric.”

“It certainly takes some artistic liberties with the lettering, I’ll give it that.”

Hat Kid came sprinting up, holding a stick in each hand that crackled with sparks, other Subconites trailing her and holding sticks of their own. “Sparkle sticks!” she shouted, swinging them in the air before running off again, tracing a trail of light behind her.

They caught up to her in the center of the square, where the Subconites had set up numerous games and even an obstacle course. The spiders and haunted nooses had pitched in their services for the latter.

“Race you to the top of the tower,” one of the Subconites said to Hat Kid before bounding off to the start of the obstacle course.

“You’re on!” She raced after them, easily dodging the minor hazards and swinging up to the rooftops with ease. She bounced on mushrooms and spider-climbed up walls while several of the minions struggled to keep up with her superior agility. It wasn’t even a close match. Hat Kid laughed down from the top of the tallest building at the end of the square, raising her umbrella in triumph.

She opened the umbrella and parachuted down with it. “Wheeeeee!” Snatcher had to keep himself from cringing when she did that. He’d seen her safely land that way many times but it still triggered bad memories.

Hat Kid drifted to the ground and immediately set off to try the other games they set up. “It’s like the carnival!”

She tried bobbing for apples, a ring toss, and the infamous pitcher-knockdown. For the latter, she simply pointed her umbrella at the stack of pitchers and activated a badge, firing an explosive laser beam at them that shattered all three on contact. Hat Kid grinned at Snatcher and Moonjumper. “Cheating is way easier.”

“I’m concerned by the precedent you’ve set,” muttered Moonjumper.

“I’m not!” Snatcher grinned back at her. “That’s the way, kiddo!”

“Do I get a prize? What else is there?”

“Yeah, you’ll get a prize, but that’s for later,” Snatcher said.

“Normally, the children play with each other for a while, and then there’s some dancing and then food and presents,” Moonjumper added.

Hat Kid’s eyes seemed to get wider and rounder with each activity they listed. “Aaaaah!” she squealed, running in circles. “I love birthday parties!”

“How many sweets did you get for dessert?” Snatcher asked Moonjumper under his breath.

“Possibly too many,” they muttered back. Hat Kid was burning energy like she was already on a sugar rush. An entire crowd of Subconites was chasing her at the moment. Snatcher was out of breath just from watching them.

“She’s gonna crash hard. You think she’ll be able to stay awake for...”

Moonjumper gave him a sympathetic look. “I know you’re nervous, but if it comes to that, we can always save it till morning. She won’t disappear.”

Snatcher massaged his wrists. “You sure about that?”

They nudged him with their elbow. “It’ll be alright.”

Moonjumper generally had a trustworthy assessment of things. He hoped they were right again. Snatcher’s anxiety continued to build as the evening progressed. He and Moonjumper had planned extensively over the last couple of days--what supplies they needed, how to set up the village, how to surprise Hat Kid, and of course, how to word the contract.

Snatcher’s mind was doing a fantastic job at coming up with all the ways the night could go wrong--everything from bad weather, to Hat Kid choking on her food and dying before they could even have the chance to ask her if they could be a family. To say nothing of the fact that she could also flat out say no. For that matter, to say nothing of what would happen if she actually said yes. That level of happiness might make him implode.

Moonjumper clapped their hands, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Alright, everyone, how about some music?”

The Subconites stopped their chase and cheered, rushing into the square to gather around. “Newbie, come on! It’s time to dance,” one of them called.

“Yeah! I actually remember this part!” another said.

Snatcher summoned two fiddles and handed one off to Moonjumper. He shapeshifted to his Prince form to allow himself to play, and the two of them stood back to back, lifting the instruments.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Always, my friend.”

They began to play. Unlike the first time Snatcher had played for Hat Kid, this time, he had practiced. The Subcon birthday festivals always had special music for them. The Prince had never personally performed them, since there used to be bards who were in charge of that, so it had taken the two of them a little while to sort out how to recreate the songs.

A frenetic, joyous tune flew from the fiddles as the Subconites started their dance. Hat Kid watched in amazement as they each slowly began to settle into a pattern of steps, like the song was bringing their memories back. A couple of the Subconites nearest to her tugged her sleeve and gestured at themselves, urging her to copy them. She laughed and started attempting to learn on the fly, each step and motion delayed by a beat.

As the song continued on, steadily she got the hang of the motions, and her dancing became less jerky and more in sync with the crowd.

“Now you got it, kiddo!” Snatcher shouted over the music. He turned around, so that he and Moonjumper were facing each other and pulled out of the harmony. Snatcher played a quick, sassy set of chords, which Moonjumper quickly answered back with a grin. The musical banter was a classic part of the performance. The twin fiddles riposted back and forth, increasing in speed, while the Subconites clapped along. In the background, the fire spirits twirled and blazed, sending ribbons of colorful sparks and smoke up into the air.

Soon the call and responses of their playing became so quick that they were nearly indistinguishable, and just like that, the music seamlessly wove back into harmony and the last section of the song concluded the way it began.

When the music stopped, everyone cheered and applauded, Hat Kid the loudest of them all. She dashed over, pulling both of them into a hug.

“That was so fun!” she said, still gasping for breath.

Snatcher pushed her hat askew to ruffle her hair. “Thanks, kiddo. Take a breather.”

She nodded, plopping down on a bench next to them. She turned to Moonjumper. “You said there was gonna be food?”

“Yes, of course.” They helped her back to her feet and led her over to a section of the square where the Subconites had laid out a feast.

Snatcher whistled low. Moonjumper had really outdone themself. There was an entire assortment of dishes, way more than Hat Kid could eat in one sitting, but it was a veritable buffet. At the center was a large cake, which Hat Kid was eyeing already.

“Dinner first, then cake,” Moonjumper said, following her gaze.

“But what if I get full?”

“There’s always room for cake,” they said.

“That’s true!”

Hat Kid sampled a little of everything. Snatcher sat with her at the table while she tucked into her meal, and they watched the Subconites set off firecrackers and try to dodge the sparks. She gobbled the food down with manners that would have been entirely improper had she been a princess. He would never impose that lifestyle on her. He had seen what that had done to Vanessa, even before things went sour.

“Careful, my dear, you’ll get a stomach ache,” Moonjumper chided.

“But cake,” Hat Kid said with her mouth full.

They chuckled. “Cake won’t run away. I’m watching it very closely.”

She didn’t really slow down her pace, but at least stopped staring at the cake like a hawk. Soon enough, she cleaned her plate and made doe-eyes at Moonjumper. They only laughed.

“Alright, alright, you can have cake.”

Hat Kid practically vibrated in excitement as she watched them cut out a large slice and set it on her plate. The cake was chocolate inside and had a bit of gooey filling. Outside it was covered in purple frosting and dark cherries and blackberries. Looking at it made Snatcher briefly wish he could eat again.

Hat Kid held up the first forkful of the cake and admired it before shoving it into her mouth. She drummed her hands on the table. “So good!”

“Birthdays always need cake,” said Moonjumper.

“I can see why you want to have birthdays,” Hat Kid said, “if you get to do this every single year.”

“Every season, really,” Snatcher said. “The kids who got the honors of the festival were the ones born in the season, but everyone got to have cake in the end. You can’t give some kids cake and not the rest.”

“I feel like you would totally do that.”

“Wow. I’m not that heartless. Or I wasn’t.”

“So can we do a party every season too? Even though I’m the only kid in the village now. And I don’t technically have a birthday.”

“Hah! I guess! But you don’t have to have a party if it’s just cake you want, you know.”

“I know. But the party was fun too. But I get it if it’s a lot of work.”

Snatcher shrugged, glancing at Moonjumper. “I don’t have much else to do. Not unless people start getting it into their heads to start flocking here for vacation.”

Hat Kid fist-pumped. “Yes! Parties all the time! Living here is the best!” Her expression became more subdued. “Maybe I should have just stayed all along.”

Snatcher’s own smile faded. Moonjumper rubbed her shoulder. “We’re just glad you’re here now.” They looked at Snatcher, questioning.

He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, letting out a sigh. He nodded. “Hey, kid? There’s one more surprise. I-we hope you like it.” God, he hoped she liked it. Snatcher wasn’t the praying sort, hadn’t been for a long time, for obvious reasons. But right now he prayed she would like it.

Hat Kid’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, another surprise?”

The three of them left the square, heading to a quieter section of the village. In the background, they could still hear the sporadic pops of the minions setting off more firecrackers.

“So what’s the surprise?” Hat Kid asked.

Snatcher took another breath, summoning his courage, and then summoned the contract. It hovered in front of her.

She raised an eyebrow. “Another contract? Really?”

Snatcher pressed a hand to his temple. “Just...please read it.”

Hat Kid gave them both a skeptical look, and scanned over the contract. Snatcher watched her expression shift from skepticism to confusion. “Wait. A-adoption?” she asked in a small voice.

“Yeah, kiddo,” he said, just as quietly.

She stared at the contract some more.  _ Be our daughter. _ They had both stamped it already.

“Like. You want to be my parents?”

“Yes,” Moonjumper murmured.

“If you want,” Snatcher said. He pressed his knuckles against each other, as hard as he could to stop himself from visibly shaking.  _ This was a mistake, she’s going to say no, this just made her uncomfortable- _

Hat Kid was silent for a moment. “You want  _ me _ ?”

Snatcher nodded, unable to speak anymore. He was clenching his jaw so tight that he thought it might fuse shut.

Slowly, a smile broke across her face. Snatcher’s eyes widened. She reached for the quill and painstakingly signed her name across the line at the bottom. Hat Kid wiped a tear from her eye with her sleeve and handed the document back to them, showing off her signature. “Yes,” she whispered, and she threw herself into their arms.

Snatcher caught her, and Moonjumper wrapped their arms around her soon after, the three of them crouched on the ground, all crying and laughing at the same time. It took all of his willpower not to hug her too tight to breathe. The tension he had been holding released, and he trembled as he held her and Moonjumper, sagging down onto the earth. Snatcher pressed his face into her hair, unable to stop smiling. Tears rolled down his face. After centuries of resignation that he had lost his chance so long ago, he was actually getting something he had desperately wanted once upon a time. Now, they were a family. Snatcher let out a sobbing laugh. He had a family!

* * *

They snuck out of the party and teleported back to the hollow. Snatcher transformed back to his normal form. Hat Kid curled up in Moonjumper’s arms on the bed, Snatcher wrapped himself around them both, still basking in the lightness in his soul as he clung onto them. Every second that passed, he asked himself if it was real, or if he was stuck in a delusion. Every time, there she was.

“Today can be your birthday, since you don’t have one on Earth,” Snatcher told Hat Kid. “Unless you want a different day.”

She shook her head. “I want it to be the same as when I signed the contract. It doesn’t matter what day, but today is special.”

He nuzzled her in response. Yes, today was a day he wanted to commit every detail to memory. He wanted to remember how the air felt, how the light of the room cast its shadows on the walls, how it sounded to hear her voice. When he thought about this day in the years ahead, he wanted the opposite of that mind-numbing fog that accompanied his trauma. Part of him regretted not paying more attention to everything earlier in the day, but he had been so stressed about what her response would be, he could barely keep himself together.

“I never thought that I would have a family. Mine was gone before I could remember. But I always wanted what the other kids had, and what I saw in stories,” Hat Kid said.

“I’m so happy you chose us,” Moonjumper said, brushing her hair.

“I know I messed up a lot, kiddo, and I’m sorry,” Snatcher said. “I’ll do better. I’ll be better.”

“It’s okay,” she said softly, reaching out to hold his hand. “I messed up a lot too.”

“No,” he said. “Believe me, no. Whatever you think it was, no.”

“Really? That can’t be right. I caused you and Moonjumper so much trouble.”

“You did not,” Moonjumper assured her. “That’s just part of being a parent. Remember when we said we would take care of you? You’re not alone in the world anymore.”

“It feels kind of weird, I can’t lie. I...I had to do everything on my own, even when I was scared. Now I don’t have to?”

“We’re a team now,” Moonjumper said with a smile. “Whenever you need help or anything else, just ask.”

“You too, okay?” Hat Kid said. “I know you said you want to take care of me, but I can still do stuff too. I don’t want you to get hurt because of me...like the last time.” She looked at Snatcher when she said it.

He sighed fondly. It was no use trying to convince her otherwise, was it? She would always feel some level of protectiveness over them in return. “Alright, kid, it’s a deal. But only on the condition that if it’s between you getting hurt or me, you look out for yourself first, understood?”

“That goes for me as well,” Moonjumper said. “For so many reasons, not the least of which being that we can’t be hurt so easily.”

Hat Kid lowered her gaze. “I guess,” she said.

“I meant it when I said I would rather have to deal with Vanessa again than ever come that close to losing you,” Snatcher murmured. He squeezed her hand. There were so many things in this world that he had the strength to endure now for her sake.

She didn’t say anything, only squeezed his hand back. It was obvious she didn’t like the idea of either him or Moonjumper putting themselves on the line for her--what child would? But she seemed to understand their feelings.

The three of them continued to talk well into the night. Now that she was officially a permanent resident of Subcon, there were logistics to figure out. How often would they need to go out for supplies for her? What other supplies would they need? Snatcher already planned to expand his house. Moonjumper needed a place to stay, and his own room could use more comforts for three.

“Now that Vanessa is gone, you don’t have to protect the forest so much,” Hat Kid said. “We could go on more adventures together. If you want to.”

“Well, I still don’t exactly like palling around with crowds, but, uh, the last outing was...not so bad.” If she wanted to go into a bustling metropolis, Snatcher would have to really weigh his priorities, but something more low-key, he wasn’t opposed to.

“Don’t worry, I know you don’t like lots of people. There’s lots of other cool stuff to do,” she said. “I can think of something.”

“If it’s something you’re really excited about, I can deal with the people,” Snatcher said quickly. It was touching how accommodating she was offering to be, and he didn’t want her to miss out on anything on account of his anti-social tendencies.

Hat Kid chewed on her lip and gave him a small smile. “Maybe a few things then. I want you to be there.”

“Yeah, kid. I do too.”

Snatcher wouldn’t tell her that the idea of leaving the forest again still unnerved him, even knowing logically that there was no longer any substantial threat. His life had been so static there for so long; this was all part of the process of building a new future. He’d need to find his courage.

Well. One step at a time, right? Because now, at long last, time was on his side. Maybe he could take a chance on happy endings again.


	17. The Oath of Stewardship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The everyday lives of the people around you are determined by the law and those who make it. Every word counts, and their misuse can ruin the lives of many, but in the right hands, they can protect the vulnerable from being taken advantage of too."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Of course the story has to culminate with a courtroom drama. I actually looked up property law for this. Then I ignored all of it.
> 
> Note on Moonjumper's title: I literally cannot express to you how long I waffled back and forth about what Hat Kid would call Moonjumper.

Hat Kid sat next to Moonjumper on the slopes of her pillow pile in her room. Snatcher lounged just above them, listening to their conversation.

“Well I can’t call you both ‘Dad.’ That’ll get confusing,” she said. Plus there was the factor of Moonjumper’s undefined gender. Neither of the conventional titles particularly fit. “I can’t just call you ‘parent.’ That sounds a little silly.”

“You don’t have to think so hard about it. ‘Dad’ is only a title. I don’t mind it. If you want to be less confusing, maybe Moondad and Dadtcher?” Moonjumper scrunched their face up at what they just said.

“I am  _ not  _ answering to Dadtcher,” Snatcher growled from above.

“No, I’m gonna get this,” Hat Kid said, frowning hard at the ceiling. “Moon Dad...Mood? No wait, that's a word already. Ugh why is this so hard?”

“You know, you could just keep calling us by our names if you want,” Snatcher said.

“I guess. Do you not want to be called ‘Dad?’ I don’t have to call you that if you don’t like it.” Hat Kid twiddled her fingers. “It’s just that I never thought I would have a dad. Or any parents.” Her first parents had died at some point early in her life, leaving her to be shuffled around among their colleagues at the colony, and there weren’t many other kids she ran into growing up, but the ones she did meet were usually the children of the flight crews. And then there were the kids in stories who had some kind of family--a real family, one that would always be there, even after you left and came back again, not just a random collection of adults who you bounced between. She always envied them.

“No, I didn’t say that!” Snatcher said. A hand dropped down on top of her head. “You can call me whatever you want.”

“Even ‘Dadtcher,” Moonjumper stage-whispered.

Snatcher groaned. “I’m literally begging you…”

“I won’t call you that, don’t worry,” she said through her giggles. She would save that one for later when she wanted to rile him up. She looked back at Moonjumper. “But then do you still really want to be Moondad?”

“Like Snatcher said, you can call me anything. I’m just too happy we’re a family. Officially.” They beamed. It almost looked like they were glowing.

“Why not just use what other parents used in Subcon back in the day?” Snatcher said, prodding Moonjumper in the side with his tail. “Remember the baker’s spouse? Their children called them Moddy.”

Moonjumper’s eyes lit up. “Oh that’s right! I’d forgotten completely!”

Hat Kid bobbed her head. “Ooh, that sounds awesome! As long as you like it. Moddy.” She tested the new title on her tongue. Hat Kid had never really known the full spectrum of possible names kids could call their parents. She had seen the basics from stories and movies, but it seemed like it really came down to personal preference, especially when you could literally come up with anything you wanted.

It was still surreal that they and Snatcher were her parents now. Hat Kid didn’t know how she was supposed to act. She had never really been a kid who belonged to a family. Sure, lots of people had taken care of her, but she never had been theirs, and they definitely weren’t hers.

“You just have to be yourself,” Moonjumper told her, when she voiced her concern. “You don’t have to change anything about yourself, except to remember that we’re always here for you.”

“Always? Even if I do something wrong? Even if I make you mad? Or mess up really bad?”

“Especially then.”

That couldn’t be true, could it? There had to be a line somewhere. There always was. Then again, she had thought there was a limit with Snatcher before, but he had only become more affectionate over time.

Just then, an alert ping from her ship signaled on her transponder. Hat Kid sat up, brow furrowed. It wasn’t the intruder alert. She focused on the message and then frowned harder.

“That can’t be right…”

“What’s wrong, kiddo?”

“My ship...it’s saying another ship has entered the airspace.” Her voice went faint. It had to be detecting something off. Was another alien species invading Earth? “I-I’ll just go up and check real quick. Maybe it’s an error.”

“We’ll come,” said Moonjumper, already rising.

Hat Kid nodded and teleported them all up. As soon as they arrived in the main hub, she looked through the viewport and gasped. The large holographic screen overlaying the windows showed an incoming hail from another spaceship--one of her own fleet’s. They  _ had _ come looking for her.

That fact would have made her happy once, but now it made her stomach drop. Immediately, she reached out and took the hand of Moonjumper who was nearest. With her other hand, shaking, she answered the hail.

The holographic display flashed, and turned into a video feed showing the ship’s commander. It was one of the people who looked after her on the colony where she grew up. He wore the standard blue and gold uniform that all flight crews used, the ever-important Captain’s Hat over the top of his short dark hair, pulled back in a clean, authoritative hairdo. His calm gray gaze locked with hers through the screen. Hat Kid shivered. Of all the people to come looking for her.

He began without preamble. “There you are. Child, I’m sure you are aware that this flight of yours is a severe breach of protocol. This is well beyond the authorized flight paths and use of the time pieces.” He frowned, almost imperceptible if she weren’t so used to reading him. “You know the rules. You will return with us at once.”

“Like  _ hell she is, _ ” Snatcher snarled from behind her. He loomed over her shoulder, mane flared up. From her other side, Moonjumper squeezed her hand, but they too leaned forward, glaring at the screen.

The Captain blinked at them in confusion. “Who are you?” he managed to say.

“They’re my parents!” Hat Kid shouted, their presence giving her a boldness she normally couldn’t manage. “And I’m staying here!”

The Captain blinked again. He turned and glanced at the crew behind him, seeming to confer out of earshot. When he turned back to the screen, the professional calm returned too, but Hat Kid felt his lingering confusion. “Your parents are dead,” he said finally, abnormally tactless.

“Great observation skills,” Snatcher said through his teeth. “It’s no wonder you got here so quickly with that big brain of yours.”

The Captain’s mouth twitched, but he kept his gaze fixed on Hat Kid. If it were any other situation, she would have laughed. No one from her home base talked to him like that. Instead she shook her head, fighting to keep her voice steady. “They’re my new parents. This is my home now. I’m not going back.”

They stared each other down through the screens, only the whirring sounds of the ship machinery on both ends fending off the silence. “You’re certain of this? You wish to remain on this foreign planet?” There was a slight pause as he said “foreign.” No doubt he had already scanned it and noted the rudimentary technology.

Hat Kid nodded once, clenching her free hand. “It’s my home,” she repeated, trembling. “You left me before. You can do it again. I’m fine.”

The Captain’s eyebrows drew together ever so slightly when she said that. For a moment, she wondered if her words had gotten to him.

“You don’t have to keep talking to them,” Moonjumper whispered. “We can deal with them for you.”

“I gotta,” she said back. “They won’t listen unless it’s me.”

The Captain was silent for another long while. “I cannot compel you to return if you do not wish it.” Hat Kid’s heart lifted. Was she going to be that lucky? Would they just leave after having come all this way? “But we will be reclaiming the ship as it is Enterprise property.”

“What?” Hat Kid darted her head from the holoscreen to her parents and back again. “No! You can’t! It’s my ship! It was a piece of junk. I built it!”

The Captain sighed. “Built it from Enterprise machinery using Enterprise equipment and subject to Timespace Law. You know you cannot keep it. If you have found a home here, I do not wish to interfere with that, but such a powerful piece of technology cannot exist outside of our jurisdiction. You know the rules,” he repeated.

“I know them! I won’t break them.” Hat Kid’s tears threatened to spill over. She did not cry in front of the grown ups! She wouldn’t!

“You’re breaking them just by being out here,” he responded tersely.

“We’re going to need to see evidence of that,” Moonjumper broke in. “Rules, you say? If we’re speaking in terms of law, we have a right to review those terms.”

“I...suppose that is reasonable,” the Captain said. “Though I am not sure what you are proposing by this.”

“It means we have a case to negotiate,” Snatcher growled, though there was a note of excitement in his voice. Hat Kid looked up at him over her shoulder and her eyes widened at the broad grin that had spread across his face, ferocious and gleeful in a single turn. “You entered Earth’s airspace. You’re subject to  _ Earth _ laws, now, no? Unless you’re flagrant conquerors. More to the point, you entered Subcon’s airspace.  _ My  _ airspace.”

The Captain regarded him seriously. “You are the authority here?”

Snatcher’s grin split his face further. “I’m the damn King of Subcon. The law here is me.  _ And we have a case. _ ”

Hat Kid stared, mouth hanging open a little. Over all the time she had spent getting to know Snatcher, it was clear he was strong. Through his magic, he had the ability to do many things. He’d fought her with it, he’d protected her with it. But in all of that, he had never seemed as powerful and confident as he did now. It was as though he had been waiting for a moment like this.

Even the Captain seemed to detect it. His demeanor became more formal. “Very well. It is clear we will need to arrange a more official meeting to clarify the terms of law applying to the vessel and which protocol has been violated. The Hyperspace Enterprise has specific policies regarding the laws that apply to all technology capable of manipulating the physical dimensions. This is to ensure the safety of all interstellar lifeforms, not just our own. We will clarify this in the impending discussion. Unless you are able to present a case granting exception to the vessel and its commander, then according to that policy, we must return with it. Should the child wish to remain with the vessel or on the planet will be her choice. Shall we meet again in-” he paused to check something off screen, “five planetary turns?”

“That’s five days,” Hat Kid said under her breath. “Only five days.”

“That’s plenty of time,” Snatcher said.

“Very good,” the Captain said. “We will reconvene at that time.”

The screen powered off, leaving only the glowing view of Earth through the glass once more. Hat Kid dropped into a sitting position, slipping out of Moonjumper’s hand.

“Oh!” they said, catching hold of her and kneeling down at her side. “Are you alright, little one?”

“Do you want me to kill him?” Snatcher was still speaking in that low rumble. He loomed overhead, still staring through the viewport into outer space with narrowed eyes, though he looked less flared up now that the Captain was no longer visible. “Just say the word, I’ll do it.”

Hat Kid hugged herself. “No. It would be really bad. They could hurt you.”

“So they’re  _ that _ kind of travelers, huh? Those people.”

She shook her head. “We’re not supposed to interfere on other worlds unless there are time anomalies. But if you try to kill him, they might act in self-defense. You saw what the time pieces can do. Please don’t, Dad. I don’t want you to get hurt again!” She looked up at him, vision blurry with tears.

At the sound of her plaintive protest, Snatcher ceased glaring out the window and curled around her and Moonjumper. “Hey, hey, it’s okay, sweetie. I won’t if you don’t want me to.”

Hat Kid nodded, wiping her eyes and tucking herself against him. “I’m not going, but I don’t want to lose my ship,” she murmured. “It’s mine. I love it.”

“You won’t, kiddo. You aren’t going anywhere, and you aren’t losing anything.”

“That’s right,” Moonjumper said, rubbing her back. “We won’t let them barge in here and make demands. Don’t worry. We’ll take care of it.”

“How?” Her voice cracked. “The Captain is right, I technically broke the rules by coming back here. They won’t let me keep it if I can’t be responsible.”

“Every rule has an extenuating circumstance,” Snatcher said, gently now. He nuzzled the back of her head. “Didn’t I teach you anything?”

Hat Kid wiped her eyes, a small smile fighting its way out. “I told you, I wasn’t listening.”

“You have the Enterprise bylaws, right?” Moonjumper asked. They helped her back onto her feet.

Hat Kid nodded. “I can have the ship translate it into Earth for you.” She went over to the console and hit a bunch of buttons. On the display, dozens of text boxes popped up, the alien text transforming into letters they would understand. “You can scroll through all of them here,” she said, demonstrating the controls.

“Thank you. All you have to do is wait. Like I said, we’ll take care of it. Do you want to go back to the house in Subcon?” Moonjumper asked.

She drooped. “I don’t want to leave my ship right now.” She wanted to believe that her parents could really save it for her, but if they couldn’t convince the Captain--and the chances were high that they couldn’t--she wanted to spend as much time as possible saying goodbye to the ship that saved her life.

“I understand,” Moonjumper said. “But you should get some rest. Settle your nerves. I’ll get you something to drink.”

They nudged her toward the bedroom. Over their shoulder, Snatcher was already at the console, fixated on the screen. By the speed he was scrolling, he was reading very fast. It wasn’t surprising, considering how fast he went through his books.

Hat Kid tugged on Moonjumper’s hand. “Can’t I help you? Maybe you need to know stuff that only I know.”

They gave her a reassuring smile. “Oh, we will absolutely be needing your help in the next few days.” They lifted her hand and ran their other one over her knuckles. “But look, you’re still shaking. There’s no need to rush into it. Have some hot cocoa. Let’s read together. If you need to cry some more, then let it out. It’s important you get some rest first. Then we go to battle.”

It was sound logic. The numbness that washed over her during the confrontation with the Captain had yet to fade. They were right. She wouldn’t be any help like this. If anything, she’d waste their time because they would both need to comfort her.

Moonjumper kept her company while she played mindless video games, losing badly even then. When they read to her, the words bounced off her head, but she couldn’t fall asleep. She was already holding them back. If they wanted to win over the Captain, Moonjumper would be better off helping Snatcher. With that in mind, Hat Kid tried to settle herself and at least pretend to be asleep. Even with her eyes closed and holding still for a long time, Moonjumper stayed beside her, brushing her hair. The motion soothed her as much as it worried her.  _ Go, _ she wanted to tell them.  _ You shouldn’t be worrying about me right now. _ But it seemed like they knew she was only feigning sleep and were determined to outlast her. Eventually, they did.

When she next awoke, Hat Kid rubbed her eyes, crusty from her tears. Her eyelids still drooped, but her mind raced from the moment it reclaimed consciousness. She flung herself out of bed despite her body’s protests, dressed, and hurried back out into the flight deck.

Numerous scrolls floated around Snatcher, several of them scribbling notes all at once as he remained fixated on the screens. Moonjumper had their nose in one of his law texts and was documenting their own notes, their red threads stitching into the parchment in a blur. They looked up when they heard the doors hiss at Hat Kid’s entrance.

“Did you get enough sleep? It hasn’t been more than four hours,” they said.

Snatcher jolted from his focus at the sound of their voice and turned to Hat Kid. “Hey, sweetie. You look tired.”

Hat Kid stumbled over to them and let herself be hugged. “I can’t stay asleep. I should be helping.”

“We’re working up to something,” said Snatcher. “But I know it won’t mean anything if I tell you not to worry about it, so c’mere.”

She obliged and let him pick her up, nestling her into the crook of his arm while he continued reading. She felt a bit babyish like this, but it was also very comforting, and right now she wanted to be comforted.

“Can you tell us what happened leading up to building the ship?” he asked out of the blue. She had almost dozed off in his arms, feeling more relaxed there than in her oversized bed.

“Oh, yeah. Um, where should I start?”

“Start from when you got left behind,” he said, that darker tone creeping into the edges of his voice again. “I saw, but didn’t understand.”

“Hmm, let’s see…”

She had been playing around in the underbelly of the station, messing around with circuits to practice her engineering and prank the researchers all in one go. That was why she first missed the alert that a time rift had destabilized on the planet. The whole station had been blaring and shaking, passageways that she had taken to get into the heart of the workings closing off, nearly trapping her in its depths.

Her ears were ringing from the incessant klaxons and her legs were already unsteady from fighting with the continuous upheaval as she felt the concussions of dozens of ships evacuating at once. The facility was empty by the time she burst out from the back panels of the warehouse and scrambled to the nearest console to assess the situation.

“I guess they couldn’t find me, so they left. I understood. The Captain and the other people in charge had to make sure everyone else on base was safe, and I wasn’t supposed to be exploring where I was in the first place. It was too dangerous to search.”

“The rift wasn’t going to collapse immediately. I remember you had time to build,” Snatcher countered.

She shrugged. “I was just one person. They probably missed me.”

“One person is a multitude,” he said, and the sentence carried three hundred years of weight.

That gave her pause. Should they have looked harder for her? She could have been on any one of the evacuating ships, it was easy to lose track, and they had to transport a lot of people. It never occurred to her to really blame them for that, even though they didn’t really seem all that overjoyed that she made it out. But that was a whole different problem. The way Snatcher said it, though, should she blame them? Hat Kid’s eyes burned. It was always easier to believe they couldn’t come back for her, rather than that they wouldn’t.

“There was time to come back if they really wanted something,” Snatcher said. “They opted to depart when they did. They chose to forfeit what was left behind.” The pens scratched furiously on the floating parchment around him. “That’s all I need.”

Hat Kid spent the rest of the following days in their company, alternating between the embrace of either parent. It was the only way she found she could get any sleep, which wasn’t much in the first place. She said very little, not wanting to disrupt their focus. Every so often, Snatcher and Moonjumper would get into absurdly complex discussions jumbled with legalese, each speaking very rapidly, nearly overlapping with each other and finishing each other’s sentences frequently.

On the eve of the meeting, Hat Kid watched the two of them as they spun up the final details of their case. Eventually, they turned to her, both looking satisfied, and they laid out the case for her.

Hat Kid’s eyes got rounder as they explained. “But how are you going to deal with me breaking the rules? Even if the Captain agrees with the rest of it, if he thinks it’s too dangerous for the ship to stay with me, he can still initiate a reclamation, and the rest of the Enterprise will come to back him up!” That could get dangerous. Her people didn’t normally resort to drastic measures, but if there was a danger of misuse of the time technology, they acted decisively.

Snatcher just smiled wider. “The Timespace Oath, right?”

“Yeah.”

“He can’t invoke it,” said Moonjumper.

“He won’t,” Snatcher corrected.

“How do you know?”

A grim determination crossed his face. “Because we’ll convince him.”

* * *

So it was that the three of them sat across from the Captain and his secondary command in the pristine top-of-line Hyperspace Enterprise ship. Snatcher had taken on his Prince--or, King was it?--form, dressed in a tailored version of the cloak Hat Kid had made for him. The hood was now absent, replaced by a high collar, and the fastening overlapped in a crisp diagonal across his chest. Underneath, he had shapeshifted his shadowy garb to something simpler than the former Prince attire, but still elegant. On Hat Kid’s other side, Moonjumper had also dressed for the kill in an equally clean-cut long coat, dark indigo, gold clasps down the double-breast. They both looked...really cool.

She plopped herself into the large center chair, feeling rather plain in comparison, but it was a nice feeling to sit with them flanking her like she was a princess, and they were her shadowy protectors.

The Captain acknowledged the three of them with a curt nod. “As previously agreed, we are convening today to clarify the policies regarding the regulations governing the renegade vessel for the local authorities of this planet as is their right to request.” As he spoke, a scroll materialized off to the side, scribbling frantically. The Captain’s eyes darted to it.

“Recordkeeping,” Snatcher said with a broad smile.

The Captain nodded slowly and forged on with his introduction without breaking stride.

“We’ve read the policies,” Snatcher cut in at the end. “The ship isn’t going anywhere. It is the property of Subcon. You can’t reclaim it.”

Again, the Captain, caught off guard by Snatcher’s blunt declarations, blinked in confusion. “I am afraid we have a misunderstanding here.”

“Too right!” Snatcher said, cheerfully. He canted his head toward Moonjumper. “If you will?”

“I’d be happy to,” Moonjumper said, taking the stand. Hat Kid sat with her hands clasped in her lap between her parents. They had explained the bulk of the case to her the night before. She didn’t quite understand it, but it made sense. She had no idea there were laws for this sort of thing. In the past, everyone just told her what the rules were, and she got in trouble for breaking them. Apparently they could be argued. She wished she knew that sooner. She would have argued with them a lot.

Moonjumper shuffled the papers they had brought with them. “On the planet from which the vessel in question hails, our child reports that an unstable time rift was on the verge of collapse, necessitating an emergency evacuation of the colony. Do you confirm this to be true?”

“That is correct,” the Captain said slowly, watching them with a frown. As always, he concealed it better than most, but Hat Kid knew her parents had thrown him, and he was playing catch-up in the conversation.

“And such an emergency occurred on a planetary scale, preventing any form of safe return to re-collect assets left behind?”

“Yes.”

“As all items remaining were left behind with no intention of retrieval, then they are considered by our laws to be abandoned property. They are thus subject to the laws of dereliction as ownership of the abandoned items were forfeit and no intent of reclamation was expressed until after the vessel had been transferred to new ownership and transformed.” Moonjumper waited, letting the statement sink in across the table.

“We had no choice but to leave it behind,” protested the First Mate off to the Captain’s side. “If we could have gone back for it, we would have.”

“No you wouldn’t!” Hat Kid interrupted. “They were already junk before the rift collapse.” It was no exaggeration that she had had to throw her ship together with scraps. Playing around with circuitry had gotten her into the mess, but it also taught her everything she needed to know to get her out.

“She had the time to repair the ship and escape with it,” Snatcher said in a low voice, making the First Mate clamp their mouth shut and stare at him. They were less inoculated against his intimidation. “If you had vested interest in the vessel, which would not be a functional ship without our kid’s modifications, you would have had the time to evacuate with the parts. It was deemed expendable. Only now that it actually works and has been personally delivered to you, you want to make a claim on it?”

The First Mate lowered their gaze, pressing their lips together. The Captain held steady. “Still, the devices run on time technology, which puts them under the jurisdiction of the Enterprise. I understand the basis for your laws, but these items originated elsewhere. The laws of Earth wouldn’t apply to them.”

“And yours do?” Snatcher pressed. “Even now? Even here? Where does your jurisdiction begin and end? You have a policy of non-interference on other worlds, supposedly. Would your Enterprise automatically own any technology from Earth, by virtue of it being capable of manipulating time? The ship was built from rubble by a citizen of Earth. It resides in Earth’s atmosphere. Are you telling me that simply because you created the component parts that you still retain ownership of the finished product? That would set a disturbing precedent for all other property rights. I’ll state it again: the ship is the property of Subcon.”

The Captain tilted his head. “Pardon, but a citizen of Earth? I don’t understand. Are you suggesting the child is a citizen of this planet?”

Moonjumper snapped their fingers just then, and a paper appeared in the air. They slid it across the table.

“I’m not suggesting. I’m stating a fact,” Snatcher said through his teeth.

Hat Kid peered at the document. Even upside-down, she recognized it immediately--her adoption contract.

“Do you think that it’s been merely formality that we refer to her as our daughter?” Moonjumper asked. “She is officially our child, making her legally a citizen of this planet and Subcon Kingdom. Since she is a child, we, her parents, take on the role of stewardship of her belongings, and we do not consent to the reclamation of the vessel.”

“That can’t-Captain, surely it doesn’t work like that?” the First Mate said.

“Well, then how does it work? Do the laborers who gather the raw materials for your technology retain ownership once it’s built? Do you own all time technology in existence? It’s starting to sound an awful lot like things only belong to you when it’s convenient.” Snatcher grinned. “I don’t know about your legal system, but that won’t hold up here.”

“We compensate any providers of the materials! It’s fair trade,” they retorted.

“How about your trash, then? Should she have paid you for that? Do you want remuneration for your junk? We can write up an agreement if you like!”

Throughout this, the Captain had remained silent, keeping his gaze fixed on the table in front of him. Eventually he spoke up. “Be that as it may, the ship cannot remain on the planet. We at the Enterprise have a responsibility of stewardship over the time devices, including any and all technology powered by time pieces. I...cannot argue that the Enterprise can claim ownership over the vessel built from clearly abandoned components even prior to the evacuation. However, there are still ethical responsibilities that override the technicalities.”

There it was. Hat Kid gripped the hem of her coat under the table. She knew the rest of the argument leading up to this point, but neither of her parents had made it clear how they were going to handle this part--the subjective part. Arguments about the mysterious rules of property wouldn’t matter if the Captain made a judgment call about whether her ship’s presence there jeopardized Time Law.

Snatcher leaned forward, and the room darkened a touch. Hat Kid could see the wicked curve of his ceaseless smile. “Ah, yes, the Timespace Oath of Stewardship. We’ve read it.”

“That is useful, but perhaps it is not clear what exactly it represents, assuming you are not familiar with the powers and dangers of Timespace technology.” The Captain steepled his fingers in front of him. “A machine such as these ships which operate on time have the power to alter reality. Such power, if in the wrong hands could lead to incredible destruction. It could eliminate your entire planet’s existence with a careless move-”

“In the wrong hands, we agree,” Moonjumper cut in. “However, it isn’t so. We’ve had a taste of the destructive force of misused time pieces.” They slid over a display terminal that they had asked Hat Kid for help with during their preparations. She had shown them how to use it, and they had requested footage of her adventures during her crash landing on Earth the first time. She thought they were just getting references. The terminal loaded videos of Hat Kid stabilizing the time rifts from the broken pieces, traveling all over the creation without relent to account for all of them, and finally, fighting with Mustache Girl to protect the timeline of Earth.

“Your concern is that our child flaunted your homeworld policies by returning here unsanctioned, and therefore cannot be trusted to uphold the Oath if left to her own devices. Yet here is evidence to the contrary.” They smiled, baring their sharp teeth. Hat Kid suddenly remembered that Moonjumper explicitly did not think highly of her former caretakers. “No, she worked tirelessly, almost always at great risk to her own well-being to keep these powerful devices out of the very wrong hands you so fear. By your own admission, you gave her up for lost. Her only incentive was to ensure that each and every one of the time pieces was retrieved and dedicated to its sanctioned use, without any accountability to your Enterprise should she have failed. She did not rest or depart until this mission was complete. Time and again, she showed her capability and selflessness in defending a planet that had done little more than wrong her.”

Hat Kid stared, mouth hanging open. She remembered, early on when she had only recently met Moonjumper, how staunchly they defended her.  _ I will try my best to prove with my actions that I will not change my mind, _ they’d told her. Now they were her parent, her Moddy, still standing up for her, like she was their hero.

“Meanwhile, the only rule you are leveraging against her trustworthiness is that she made a flight without approval--an act which she had performed without detriment to arrive at your home port from Earth in the first place,” Moonjumper continued.

“An act necessitated by the fact that you  _ abandoned her _ on the colony,” Snatcher said. “This Oath you speak of, I believe it stated its mission to  _ promote the protection of reality and all life forms it comprises. _ You wish to cite this to me as your justification, when you  _ abandoned our child _ on a dying planet?” He delivered the last sentence with such force that the First Mate immediately leaned back from him, and the Captain went very stiff. Snatcher eased himself back, clasping his hands on the table, his voice softening. “I get it. From authority figure to authority figure, you’ve got a lot more than just one life to look after. You can’t jeopardize them all for one person.”

His edges rapidly sharpened again. “You ran the numbers and deemed her expendable. _ All life forms, _ the Oath says.” Snatcher drummed his clawed fingers on the table. “You made your choice and ruled her out, and you have to live with the consequences. That’s what it means to be a leader. I think you know that. So we’ll ask it again: do you really mean to come here to forcibly remove a precious belonging of a child you intentionally failed to protect on the basis of an Oath which you broke?”

His final question seemed to draw the sound out of the room. The Captain’s normally unwavering gaze slid away from Snatcher and landed on Hat Kid. He stared at her, a strange emotion clouding his features. Though the weight of that expression pressed down on her, Hat Kid fought not to break. She had faced worse than this, and her parents would protect her, no matter what the Captain decided. After what felt like an eternity, he finally acknowledged Snatcher and Moonjumper again, and she unclenched her fists, controlling her breathing so she didn’t suddenly gasp. Seeming to sense her tension, Moonjumper took her hand under the table, giving it a comforting squeeze which settled her down even more.

“On behalf of the Hyperspace Enterprise, I concede,” the Captain said. The First Mate whipped their head to him, opening their mouth but stifling whatever protest they had when they glanced back at Hat Kid. The Captain acknowledged Hat Kid with his heavy formality. “You understand your responsibilities, don’t you, young one? If the time technology undergoes a future misuse, my decision here will not be able to protect you from the Enterprise.”

She glared at him. “I told you, I know the rules.”

He tipped his head with a slow blink. “Yes, I believe you do.” He looked between Snatcher and Moonjumper briefly before regarding her once more. “You have a stake in this planet.” 

He was rather sticking his neck out for her, in all honesty. Hat Kid knew he would have to return empty-handed and explain himself to the rest of the Board, and she knew exactly which of them would really hate that. Part of her wanted to know why he was bothering, when he knew that she would stay on Earth regardless. Still, of all the people to come looking for her. If the Captain had made the decision, there wasn’t much the naysayers from the homeworld could do to convince him otherwise.

“I don’t do verbal promises,” Snatcher said. He snapped a finger and a new contract appeared in front of the Captain. “So let’s reiterate the terms of our agreement. You leave with neither the ship nor the kid. As we established, the ship is her property, so no further attempts at retrieval are to be made, or we’ll consider it a violation and a hostile act against Subcon Kingdom and Earth. In return, the kid will uphold her Oath of Stewardship and prevent the abuse of the time pieces and all related technology. If you want some compensation for your upcycled garbage, we can add some stipulations for that too.” He tipped his head toward the First Mate who had to glance away.

The Captain took a moment to look over the contract before signing it. Afterward, he stood, the First Mate following suit after a slight delay. As the two of them made to leave and let the transport crew take Hat Kid, Snatcher, and Moonjumper back to her ship, she shot up, almost knocking her chair back. “Why did you come after me? Was it just the ship you wanted? Tell me the truth.”

The Captain paused before turning back to her. “Despite everything, you were...our responsibility,” he said.  _ Burden, _ Hat Kid translated bitterly. But then, that strange emotion returned to his face. In the past, he had always been intimidatingly stoic. It was weird to see him express something beyond cool professionalism. It looked like...regret. “You’re better off here. They’ll take care of you,” he said quietly, spun back around on his heel and marched out from the meeting room.

“Damn right,” Snatcher muttered, glaring at the Captain’s back long after he left the room. The poor transport assistants had to walk straight into the full force of that glare when they entered to teleport them back.

Hat Kid placed her hands on top of the table. “So it’s over? We won?”

Moonjumper wrapped an arm around her. “Yes, my dear. You get to keep your ship.”

“How did you know he would agree to it? Your argument about the Oath, I mean.”

“I didn’t know one-hundred percent,” Snatcher said. “If he truly lacked a conscience, it wouldn’t have worked. But I was going to make damn sure he knew that if he chose to forcibly take it, the only motivation he could fall back on was greed. No excuse of some stupid Oath or company policy or whatever. He’d have to own up that they didn’t care about taking whatever they want whenever they want and bending the rules to fit their agenda, like some real space invading conquerors. He knew it too, based on how quiet he was. Looks like he either didn’t want that bad press, or he actually gave a bit of a rip about morals. Not that I care, as long as they’re out.”

The three of them followed the transport crew to the teleporter and waited for them to program in the coordinates. Hat Kid kept an eye out to make sure they were punching in the right code and there wasn’t going to be a last minute cheat. But in a blink, they warped back to her much less pristine but far more welcoming flight deck, still scattered with papers from Snatcher and Moonjumper’s note-taking.

An alert sounded on her terminal, notifying her that a ship in the vicinity was making a hyperjump. Hat Kid turned and watched as the Captain’s ship elongated into a thin cord of light that shot off into the void of space. She pressed a hand to the glass, waiting as the afterimage of the jump faded from her view, leaving only the stars and the blue Earth in its wake. Her breath puffed onto the window, obscuring her reflection. “I can’t believe it really worked.” She turned to her parents, smiling so hard her cheeks hurt. “You saved me!”

She sprinted to them both and leaped at them, not even scouting out her landing because someone would catch her. And someone did. She didn’t know which of them caught her first, but two sets of arms wrapped around her, held her tight.

“Always, kiddo.”

“Whenever you need us.”

“I didn’t know you could do that kind of stuff with contracts,” Hat Kid said when they all finally pulled back from each other. “Maybe law is pretty cool after all.”

Snatcher poked her nose. “Heh, isn’t that what I’ve been saying?” His face softened to that one special smile, the one she loved because of how it made her feel like, for once, someone really saw her. “I studied it to protect what I love.”

“Love?” Hat Kid’s mouth gaped a little. She looked between him and Moonjumper. It was the first time he--anyone--had ever said that directly. After all they’d been through together, it shouldn’t have been surprising, but there it was.

Moonjumper chuckled, nuzzling her forehead. “Of course. You’re our child. We love you. More than anything.”

Hat Kid snuggled up between them, closing her eyes with a contented sigh. “I love you too.”


	18. Epilogue: Found family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The ending they built together is only the beginning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, folks. That's a wrap! It's been an amazing journey writing this. Would you believe when I first started, I was like "It doesn't have to be long, maybe 25k or so, no pressure." Well, readers.......
> 
> This was probably the fastest and smoothest I've ever had a fic go. Literally no writer's block along the way. And I loved seeing your comments with every chapter. I looked forward to them every week. I'll say up front that I don't write sequels, lol. But there are probably some deleted scenes or follow up one-shots that might inspire me, so who knows! I'm open to prompts, but no guarantees. There will also be art, so if you're interested, you can follow my art tumblr artwithlemon.tumblr. or my main blog at lemonadesoda.
> 
> Also the "Bonestealer McMoonsprite" nickname is a reference to the version of the character from doodledrawsthings on tumblr that they're based on.
> 
> Once again, thanks all, and one last time, hope you enjoy!

Hat Kid blinked to adjust her eyes after the effects of the teleporter. Even though she had seen the target location through her telescope, seeing the actual view in person drew out a gasp. The lake stretched so far that the other side of it disappeared into the murk of the twilight, its surface smooth enough to reflect the sky and fill her vision with a rainbow of sunset colors, both above and below the horizon.

Snatcher and Moonjumper appeared beside her, and she looked up at them, eager to see their reactions to the scenery. Moonjumper smiled in clear admiration, inhaling and exhaling deep and long. On her other side, Snatcher stared with the same round-eyed expression he’d had on the Ferris wheel. It was the first time he’d gone this far from the forest since their trip to the fair, Hat Kid and Moonjumper having finally coaxed him out for another proper adventure.

“Okay, kid, I admit I’m impressed,” Snatcher said. “It is...really beautiful.”

He would have gone with her wherever she asked, but Hat Kid had spent a long time scoping out the best possible place for them all to go together that wouldn’t be too stressful. A camping trip seemed perfect. She’d gotten the idea from a show that DJ Grooves sent her as a gift after she started making the rounds to tell her old friends that she was permanently and officially a resident of Earth.

“Wonderful choice of venue,” Moonjumper agreed. They clapped their hands together. “We should probably start unpacking if we want to really enjoy it properly!”

On cue, Hat Kid opened her inventory, and Snatcher reached into his pocket dimensions to pull out all the supplies they’d prepped--cooking gear, snacks, a tent, a non-trivial number of pillows. She organized them into categories while her parents constructed a ridiculously fancy tent. With their magical weaving, Moonjumper spun up a large canvas that draped over the top of the frame that Snatcher twisted together with timber and woody vines from Subcon.

Hat Kid’s mouth dropped open when she finally beheld the finished shelter. “Wow. I didn’t expect the sparkly lights.”

One of them had lined the canopy and door flap with string lights. Moonjumper pursed their lips at the tent. “Too much?” they asked. Ah, there was the culprit.

Hat Kid skipped over. “No, it’s pretty. I just never thought camping could look so glamorous.”

“Hey, no sense being uncomfortable,” Snatcher said, lounging in front of their handiwork. “You’re gonna want to actually enjoy yourself out here, not get a sore back. Or a rash.”

“I wasn’t complaining!” She gestured to the piles of gear behind her. “Let’s set everything up!”

They got to work arranging the campsite. Most importantly, Hat Kid began building a pillow fort. In the center of the large, candle-lit tent, she laid out every single old blanket that Snatcher could scrounge up from the deepest corners of his storage until she had made herself a plush nest broad enough for the whole family to snuggle up on. The rainbow assortment of pillows formed the border and over the top of them all went Moonjumper’s special blanket. After deeming the fort stable, she shimmied herself through the entrance and plopped down smack in the middle, looking up at the blanket. The candles filtered through it, settling the glittering magic of the threads alight in an indigo nebula.

The tent flap rustled. “Very impressive!” said Moonjumper from outside the pillow fort. More rustling, and they emerged through the low opening and crawled over to lie next to her. “Oh! The blanket!”

Hat Kid grinned at them. “Even when we’re lying in bed we can see the stars.”

“That’s a wonderful idea. I love it.”

After a few minutes of stargazing at the imitation sky, the tent flap rustled again. “You know, you’re welcome to come help me start dinner at any time, Bonestealer McMoonsprite.”

Moonjumper placed a hand on their chest in mock offense, but made a shushing gesture to Hat Kid, snickering.

“Oh, ignoring me, very mature. I thought you were supposed to be the adult in this family.” Snatcher’s face poked into the pillow fort, already in the midst of an eyeroll.

Moonjumper and Hat Kid dissolved into giggling, having been caught.

“Can’t I take a second to admire our daughter’s creation?”

Snatcher opened his mouth to retort, but as their words seemed to sink in, he paused and glanced around. “Huh. Nice work, kiddo.” He turned back to Moonjumper. “There. It’s been a second. Now get your floating butt out here!” He slithered out of the tent.

“You’re a floating butt,” Moonjumper muttered, but they got up anyway.

Hat Kid clapped both hands over her mouth, fighting the urge to shriek.

Moonjumper smirked down at her and held out a hand. “What do you say? Want to help with the cooking?”

“Yeah!” She jumped to her feet, taking their hand, and the two of them went out to join Snatcher who had already gotten a steady fire going. The blue glow of dusk had long since faded, leaving only the fire to light up the campsite.

The three of them had really come along with their cooking abilities, though it still took all three of them to make it work, but these days only a few things got burnt and seasonings were not accidentally mixed up. Hat Kid was content to leave the Sugar Instead Of Salt Incident well behind them. Weirdest spaghetti ever.

She scarfed down her dinner, the primary obstruction to the real prize of the meal: “S’mores!” Hat Kid bounced up and down with the bag of marshmallows as she waited for her parents to clear the cookware from the bonfire. “S’mores, s’mores, s’mores!” This was another inspiration from that show she watched.

“Hang on, love, we’re almost done,” Moonjumper said. As they spoke, Snatcher waved his hand in a few sharp loops in the air, and several of the dishes levitated up and warped back into his pocket dimension. Moonjumper gave him a pointed look. “We should probably wash those out first.”

Snatcher shrugged. “Eh, I’ll scour the gunk off if I have to.”

They gave Hat Kid a sidelong glance. “And he complains about your messy room.”

“Yeah, it’s not  _ that _ messy.”

“Do as I say, not as I do, am I right, kid?”

Hat Kid wrinkled her nose at him. “That doesn’t sound right.”

Snatcher plopped himself down behind her and Moonjumper, sweeping his tail around them. “Oh everyone’s a critic, huh?” He opened his hand in front of her and manifested the rest of the ingredients for her camping dessert.

Hat Kid skewered some marshmallows, and even though she was the only one who could actually eat them, all three of them roasted some over the dwindling fire. She leaned back against Snatcher, sighing with a faint smile on her face as the orange embers flickered in front of her.

Impulse and frustration had driven her off her home planet back to this one, the only other place in the universe she knew. No plan, no goals, nothing. As soon as she landed, she wandered from vaguely familiar place to vaguely familiar place. Mafia Town. Dead Bird Studio. Some people were happy enough to see her, but still, she’d been gone for a full Earth year. They had moved on with their lives, and it didn’t take long to see how out of place she was, how much of a mistake leaving had been.

Except. The intruder alert had clamored in her transponder, and there Snatcher had been, waiting in her ship with poorly concealed impatience, seeming insulted that she hadn’t yet come to pester him.

She fled to Earth because she wanted her caretakers to miss her. Now that their lives weren’t at risk, she wanted them to come looking for her, but not because of her ship or an oath. At the time, she hadn’t known that was what she wanted. It wasn’t until well after the arctic cruise that it really sank in, when she’d had the time to process the feeling of stepping off the life raft and colliding with the full force of parental anxiety.

Moonjumper helped Hat Kid sandwich the marshmallow between sweet crackers and pull the gooey treat off the stick. She munched on it, savoring each bite this time as she snuggled in between her parents.

It had never occurred to her that this was a life she would get to live. Her best hope had been to grow up, get her pilot’s license, and make her own way in the universe as soon she was allowed. In the stars had been the promise of escape. If she would never be embraced back home, then at least she would fly free, as far away as the sky would let her, never looking back.

Now, looking up into the night, tucked up next to two people who loved her, who wanted her to stay, the stars held a different promise. Wrapping overhead like Moonjumper’s blanket, they whispered that she was safe. This was her home now, the place she could always come back to. After all, no matter how far a pilot flies, in the end they always must return to port.

That was the thing, wasn’t it? She had learned in the time she’d spent here, even before signing her adoption papers, about what it was to be a part of a family. That if you were stranded on a dying planet, and everyone had gone, and it was too dangerous to come back to get you, your family was the people who would come back for you anyway, even if it meant they might die. Even when she wasn’t in danger, when she was on a shipwreck of her own making, her family--her real family--came looking for her. When Vanessa had caught her, and she thought she was done for, they kicked down the door and saved her, like they had known she was gone the moment she left.

It seemed they were always looking for her, whether she was out of sight or simply across the room, always a hand reaching out to her. It was a safety she had never known before; that she could leap without looking, knowing someone would catch her; that she could wander off, get so terribly lost that nothing was familiar and still know that she was never too far away. They would always be there to bring her home again. She could and would always be found.

* * *

Moonjumper watched the dying coals fade out, leaving the light of the crescent moon and stars to illuminate their campsite. Hat Kid nestled against them, finally content after having consumed a truly impressive number of marshmallow sandwiches. The ambient sounds of the lake and the woods surrounding eased their mind, setting their thoughts to wandering.

They looked down at their child.  _ Their child.  _ Moonjumper brushed their fingers through her hair, watching her eyes droop in response. Snatcher lay behind them both in his preferred configuration curled up around them. What an amazing thing.

When Moonjumper first awoke in this world, all they had were the scattered memories of their physical form to construct themself from. The Prince’s connections, aside from the bitter ice monster haunting his former home, had been decimated, and the only other person who could have helped them to make sense of who they were despised them once he discovered them. Now, though...they had a family, a purpose.

A shooting star went past. Moonjumper smiled, nudging Hat Kid. “How are you feeling, my dear? Are you happy?”

She turned to them with a raised eyebrow. They stifled a laugh. Their question  _ had _ been abrupt. “Yeah,” she said, then watched them, as if expecting context.

“That’s good.” They lifted their eyes to the sky. Another two shooting stars went by. And then another. “Remember that time we made a wish? Mine came true.”

“It did?”

“Yes. See, that old trick works.”

She gave them a deadpan look. “No, it didn’t. That didn’t make any sense.”

“Well, has yours come true?”

She stuck her lip out and after some hesitation said, “Yeah.”

They grinned. “Well, there you have it.”

“That’s not proof!”

“I’m pretty convinced!”

“It doesn’t work like that! Is this some kind of lawyer trick?”

Snatcher lifted his head. “What’s that, kid? Need some legal advice?”   
  


“No! The opposite. You both need to learn more science.” She jabbed a finger toward Moonjumper. “You didn’t even do any hypothesis testing!”

Moonjumper had descended into laughter by then, sliding lower onto the ground. Still hugging Hat Kid, they pulled her down with them, earning a squawk of protest as she wriggled free of their grasp. “Moddyy! Cut it out!”

“Want me to drop them in the lake for you?” Snatcher asked with a sinister smile fixed on Moonjumper.

“Do that, and we’re at war,” they shot back.

Snatcher tilted his head to Hat Kid, completely ignoring their threat. “Your call, kiddo.”

She lifted a finger to her chin, actually pondering. Moonjumper made an exaggerated gasp, but mentally prepared themself to get soaked if it came to that. In this family, if the kiddo wanted to prank one parent, the other parent was always going to help her.

“I’m feeling generous tonight so I’ve decided to show mercy,” she said primly.

Snatcher lowered his head back down. “Disappointing.”

Moonjumper draped an arm around her shoulders, swooning on top of her. “I shall be in your debt forever.”

She shoved at them. “Agh! Nevermind! Daaaad! I changed my mind!”

Snatcher cackled. “You got it, kiddo.” His arm whipped out lightning fast, catching Moonjumper by the cowl and warping them both out to the center of the lake.

“Oh come o-” Moonjumper whined before Snatcher dunked them into the water.

They wrung their cloak out as they floated their way back to shore, Hat Kid rolling around laughing the entire time. Snatcher had rekindled the fire for them to dry out, but watched them with the smuggest expression they’d ever seen. They just gave him a narrow-eyed smile in return. He’d get his soon enough, whenever he next ended up annoying Hat Kid. Which would be soon.

“Satisfied, my dear?” they asked dryly.

“Yeah,” she managed to say, in between the waves of giggling.

Moonjumper took off their outer cloak and draped it out next to the fire. Sitting in its warmth, they dried out fairly quickly, grateful that the cold water didn’t trouble them at all. Well, the occasional drenching was something they could tolerate if it entertained her so much. Now that she had been formally detached from her old homeworld, Moonjumper wanted more than anything to let her feel at ease with them.

When they met the Captain to negotiate for her ship, Hat Kid had put on a brave face, but they had held her trembling hands under the table. Moonjumper never wanted her to shiver when she faced them. She deserved to laugh freely, even--or perhaps especially--at their expense. 

It was unconventional perhaps, raising a child this way. Nothing about their family was conventional though--usually the parents were alive, for one. After the years of emotional distance she’d experienced, right now she needed to know above all else that Moonjumper and Snatcher were the ones she could always run home to. Deep down, they were aware she would grow up. Eventually she’d want to go out and face the world on her own terms and test her wings again. But she needed to know--they hoped she knew--they’d always be there waiting, happy to have her home.

They hummed a bit as they held their hands out to feel the heat of the flames. Hat Kid sat beside them, tucking her knees up to her chest as she swayed her head to their tune, interjecting her own little hums with them. Not long after, the crisp sound of a violin rang out over their voices, and they both turned around.

Snatcher stood behind them in his shadow Prince form and held out his hand, summoning Moonjumper’s violin and holding it out to them. They lifted up, brushing the dirt from their damp tunic and took the instrument from him, and the two of them started to play.

No practice this time, like they had for Hat Kid’s birthday festival. They simply improvised against each other, their choice of melody occasionally clashing and making them both snicker and reset. Eventually the song smoothed out as Snatcher started a familiar tune, echoing the lullaby of Subcon, but with a more upbeat tempo. Moonjumper harmonized, adding their own flair to layer under it. 

They could hear the emotions Snatcher was pouring into the song, drawing up joy from deep within. He wasn’t paying attention to them, eyes half lidded as he focused on playing, but Moonjumper beamed. They couldn’t imagine him playing this way even a few months ago, the sheer amount of hope that was seeping into the music, how much lighter his spirit seemed.

Across from them, Hat Kid watched, enraptured as she always was. The firelight sparkled in her wide eyes, and it seemed to Moonjumper that she could understand them through the song, that whatever they were hearing and saying as they played, she was hearing too. However many times they had to say it, however many ways, whether through music or words, Moonjumper would tell her that they loved her.

Centuries ago, they had asked themself why they had to suffer the circumstances they’d suffered and never found an answer. As the Badge Seller, they wandered, exploring the world, seeing new faces and sights and always running from the questions of their past, determined to leave it behind them and build their own sense of self. But here and now, it all came together. This was the answer to their question. Playing music and dancing for their child under the stars, freed of the past that once haunted them, here was their reason. Here was what it was all for.

* * *

After playing their hearts out, Snatcher once again let the fire dwindle, allowing them to view the sky unobscured. They weren’t too many miles out of Subcon, Hat Kid seeming sensitive to his hesitation to wander too far away just yet. Still, there was a novelty to the stars, despite being the same ones from back home. Maybe it was the way the night sprawled over the mountains and shimmered off the surface of the lake, making the light shine from all around. Or maybe it was the realization that he was here, away from the forest for the first time in centuries, no longer oppressed by the threat of encroaching ice.

“Do you remember that one?” Snatcher pointed up to a constellation, tracing out its shape with his finger.

Hat Kid squinted up. “Bright star near Orion. Sirius. So Canis Major.”

“You got it, kiddo.”

“Psh, that one was easy. A baby could find it.”

“Oh, looking for a challenge, eh?”

“I’m the space expert here, remember? Lay it on me.”

“Alright, smart aleck, find me Arcturus.”

“Arcturus...arc to Arcturus…Ursa Major,” she muttered, reciting the little tricks he’d taught her to help remember. It was absolutely adorable. “Hmm, where is it, that one’s easy too.”

Snatcher waited, fighting to keep his face neutral.

“Hey! Wait a minute!”

He snickered. Moonjumper looked at the two of them, brow furrowed.

“Did your father name a fake constellation?” they asked, giving him a sly look, no doubt waiting for the earliest opportunity to get revenge for the lake dunk.

“Naw, it’s a star that’s totally real, but it’s not even in the sky right now! It’s the wrong hemisphere,” Hat Kid said, sticking her tongue out at Snatcher. “Big cheater.”

He cackled louder now that she’d caught onto the joke. “What? Gotta keep you on your toes. Making up a fake star is a good idea, though, I’ll keep that in mind for later.”

“I’ll rearrange all your potions in retaliation,” Moonjumper said. They winked at Hat Kid.

“Thanks for the warning, I’ll take advance measures for that too.”

“You won’t get me next time,” Hat Kid said. “I’m memorizing all of them.”

“I’m sure I’ll come up with something fresh,” Snatcher said with a grin. In all probability, she’d outsmart him soon enough. The kid learned at a ferocious clip when it came to things she liked. Back at Subcon, she was devouring books. Every day, they’d huddle up on his chair and read together, sometimes aloud, sometimes silently, with him letting her turn the pages at her own pace. It was a far cry from how the arrangement first began, but now they were precious moments. Way back then, when she’d first crawled into his lap and pestered him to read to her, he’d nearly gone into shock, his defenses coming up immediately. Oh, how the walls came crumbling down.

The three of them looked at the stars until Orion had nearly set and new constellations were taking over the sky. If they stayed up any longer, Arcturus really would rise, and then the joke would be on him. He couldn’t have that, could he? As the hours ticked by, Hat Kid sank deeper into the bundles of the old red quilt he had originally given to her, and she yawned.

“I think it’s bedtime,” Moonjumper said, sitting her back up.

“Aww, already?” But her eyes were practically closed.

“Didn’t you want to wake up early to see the sunrise?”

“Ohh. Yeah,” she murmured.

Snatcher followed them into the tent and with some difficulty, managed to shimmy his way into the pillow fort Hat Kid had built. Moonjumper had already set her down and made her comfortable in her little quilt nest, so Snatcher snuggled up beside her and curled his tail around them both.

He had made some peace with his Prince form, but he still preferred his current shape. The sense of regret and blame had long since settled like sediment, an old layer to build a new life on top of. The Prince was dead, and now Vanessa was gone too. The more he accepted that, the less he transformed involuntarily. It was just a shape he could take now, truly when convenience called for it, no longer a memory that haunted his reflection.

Besides, the Prince couldn’t coil protectively around his family, could he?

Hat Kid’s breathing was slow, a soft snore whistling through her nose. Moonjumper lay next to her, looking up at the starry blanket that formed their canopy.

“You know, I never thanked you,” Snatcher said quietly.

They glanced at him. “For what?”

He tilted his head toward their slumbering child. “This. Everything, really. I wouldn’t have any of this without you.”

They raised an eyebrow at him. “Give yourself some more credit.”

“I’m serious. If you hadn’t snapped me out of my denial, I would have ruined everything a long time ago.”

“Still, you had to get your life together to make it happen. I couldn’t do that for you.”

“I couldn’t have done it myself.”

Moonjumper gave him a wry smile. “Neither could I. I think that’s the point, isn’t it? We don’t have to do things alone anymore.”

“Seriously, I’m trying to be earnest and give you my appreciation here, just say ‘You’re welcome,’ damn it.”

They put a hand to their mouth to stifle their laughter. “Alright, alright. You’re welcome, Snatcher. My apologies for undermining your heartfelt moment.”

Snatcher rolled his eyes. “That’s better.” There was no true irritation in his words, and they knew it. As much as they wanted to be all modest about it, like some kind of dweeb, Moonjumper had been crucial to getting the whole family to be...well, a family. They’d been right--Snatcher had been shouldering his past alone, had chosen numbness and stagnation to keep himself going.

He scoffed at himself under his breath. The amount of lies he’d needed to hold up that house of cards…

After the disaster, he never thought it was possible to have a future again, to regain his sense of hope. It still made him dizzy to acknowledge that he really could be happy again. He was allowed to be happy. Through the centuries, he had resigned himself to being the enemy of fate. That was the only answer he could come up with for why his life had gone the way it had. One wrong move, and you lose. He could hate his past self all he wanted, deep down he knew that there was nothing he could have done to change anything, knew he hadn’t deserved what happened. 

For decades, he’d leaned into the monster persona, embraced it even. Bitterness calloused over his wounds, became his armor. It was safe, it made sense, he could forget. For his child’s sake, he had to overcome it again. There was no changing who he had been, who he was now, irrevocably, but for her, he needed to do better. And then Moonjumper was there to help him when he was starting to get lost in the weeds. Unlike before, it actually seemed possible to even try.

Snatcher looked down at Hat Kid curled up in a blanket ball. His bright little star. Whether the universe had it out for him or not, the jury was still out on that. It seemed pointless to ponder such things these days. There were practical matters to attend to, food, health care, education, affection. Children sure had a way of upending all the world’s priorities, and you didn’t have time for your existential crisis when she was having her own. Somehow, his old crises didn’t really feel all that much like crises anymore. Everything that he was, everything he had, all of it honed in toward making sure she was happy and safe. All the things in the past were now just a part of the version of himself that was her father, and if all those things had to happen to get him to this point, well...it was worth it.


End file.
